Code: PERIM
by YinYangWriter
Summary: Jeremy receives a strange message from Franz Hopper, one that tells of another world. XANA is already on its way there. Can the LYOKO Warriors stop it? Part 2 of the Dimensional Guardians Trilogy
1. Chapter 1

**This is the second part of the Dimensional Guards Trilogy. If you haven't read the first one, I would recommend that you read it (titled Chaos in Washington). Also I would strongly recommend that you read my **_**Code: LYOKO**_** story titled Light and Shadow since I use original characters Eva and Kayla. I do not own **_**Chaotic**_** or **_**Code: LYOKO**_**. Please review.**

Jeremy was staying late at the factory, searching for XANA on the internet. It had been over a month since they met Eva and Kayla and things had been going more smoothly. One thing was certain, neither of them was like William.

William.

Jeremy thought about their fallen friend and ally. He prayed that one day he would figure out a way to bring him back to Earth.

There was a beep and a mailbox icon popped up on the supercomputer's main screen.

"What's this?" asked Jeremy.

He opened up the e-mail. It contained the plans for something called a specter band. Jeremy stared at it for a long moment, studying the plans. At the bottom was a note.

"There is more than one world XANA is after — Franz Hopper."

Jeremy's jaw dropped. "This is amazing!" He began dialing all the numbers of his friends.

* * *

"What's going on?" asked Odd as they entered the factory.

"I don't know," replied Aelita. "I could barely understand Jeremy. He sounded very excited."

"I think the term you're looking for is ecstatic," Eva said.

The six of them got into the elevator and rode down to the supercomputer.

"What's so important that you had to get us up at two in the morning, Jeremy?" asked Ulrich.

"Aelita, I got a message from your father," Jeremy started.

"What?" she asked.

"He sent me the plans for something called a specter band," Jeremy continued, speaking rapidly. "At first I thought it was just a game that XANA was playing with me, but after studying the plans, it's—it's real!"

"Jeremy, could you speak a little slower and a little calmer?" asked Kayla. "What is a specter band?"

"A device that generates large quantities of energy with very little outside influence. It has the power to transfer that energy to a living creature and enhance their natural abilities." Jeremy turned around with a huge grin plastered to his face. Then he saw their confused looks. "You can have your LYOKO powers in the real world without having to be transferred from the skid or activating a tower."

"What?" asked Ulrich.

"You mean we don't have to even have to use the scanners?" asked Yumi.

"Precisely," said Jeremy.

"That's great!" chirped Odd. "We can fight XANA on equal ground."

"Is it safe?" asked Aelita.

"It's your father's plan, Aelita," said Jeremy. "I'm sure it's safe. I'll have to create a prototype first and test it."

"If you don't mind, Jeremy, I would like to test the prototype," Eva said.

"Sure, Eva," said Jeremy.

"Why her?" asked Odd. "Why not one of us veterans?"

Jeremy shrugged. "Eva asked first. Do you have a problem with Odd testing it out, Eva?"

"I rather do it," said Eva. "I'm used to taking huge risks."

"But I've been Jeremy-fied before!" argued Odd. "I know how it's supposed to feel."

"Why don't you both test it?" Kayla suggested. "Eva will do the field test and Odd can do the lab test. He'll know what it'll feel like and Eva can test its limits."

"Sounds fair," said Jeremy with a nod. "What do you think?"

"I'm fine with it," said Eva. "Odd, any arguments?"

"Fine," agreed Odd, "but the lab test comes first."

"That's settled," said Ulrich. "Was there anything else that came with those plans, Jeremy?"

"Yes," replied Jeremy. "He sent a note. 'There is more than one world XANA is after'."

"What do you think it means?" asked Ulrich.

"I have no idea," said Jeremy. "I have the scan on searching for wherever XANA strikes next."

"Maybe XANA's next target will shed some light on the note," said Yumi.

"And when he does, we'll be ready," said Kayla.

"Well, the only thing we need to be ready for is class tomorrow," said Eva. "Let's go to bed. We'll worry about this tomorrow."

"You go," said Jeremy. "I want to see what I will need for supplies for these specter bands."

They all got on the elevator except for Eva.

"I'll see you tomorrow," she said.

The others left. Eva took a seat by the elevator doors and watched Jeremy work feverishly.

Around four in the morning, Jeremy slumped over his keyboard. Eva got up and went to his side.

"Come on, Jeremy," she said, putting him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "Let's get you to bed."

Eva turned off the supercomputer and started back for the academy.


	2. Chapter 2

Later that week, Jeremy had put together the first specter band. All it needed was the code to activate it. At the factory, he downloaded Odd's LYOKO codes into the specter band.

Jeremy told them that the prototype was finished the next day.

"That's it?" asked Yumi.

Jeremy had put a metal cuff with a purple crystal. It looked like a watch except there were no hands or numbers.

"Yep," Jeremy replied.

"How did you manage to make this within a week?" asked Kayla.

"Mobile phone parts," replied Jeremy. "Just about everything I needed, I found in a mobile or at a jewelry store."

"So when do we get to test it out?" asked Odd, excited.

"You get to test it out whenever we find a place to test it," said Jeremy. He turned to Eva. "I'm sorry, Eva. I can only make the specter bands so they work for one person. I'll have to make another for you."

"That's okay, Jeremy," said Eva. "There is no sense in making another prototype just for me if it doesn't work. Odd can do all the testing if he likes."

"Now we just need to find a place to test it," said Aelita.

"Well, there's no way we can do it at school," said Ulrich. "Jim will be on us in a heartbeat if he thinks we're up to something. Can we test it at your house, Yumi?"

Yumi shook her head. "Why can't we test it at the factory?"

"We would attract a lot of attention if something happens at the factory," said Eva. She looked at Kayla. Kayla quickly looked away. "Kayla, your parents are out of town."

"I guess we could test it at my house," said Kayla. "We're secluded from the neighbors for the most part. Worst case scenario is they call the police on us and we could tell them that we were having a party."

"We'll meet at your house Sunday morning," said Eva. "Unless we want to stay over Saturday night?"

"Someone will notice if they do bed check," said Ulrich. "Sunday will work out much better for all of us."

"Then it's settled," said Eva. "The dry run will be at Kayla's house on Sunday."

"By the way, Eva," said Jeremy. "I have something you and Kayla will like. The next time there's an attack, you'll have your own vehicles."

"You made us vehicles?" Kayla asked excitedly.

Jeremy nodded. "I also made a skid for you two. It's not like the first one, but it'll do."

"Oh, boy!" said Kayla, rubbing her hands together. "This is going to be fun."

* * *

On Sunday, they met up at Kayla's house. They decided to test out the specter band in the backyard.

"Bon Ami!" Eva greeted the dog as he ran up to them. He no longer sported the cast on his front leg and he was as happy as a dog could be.

"So how's this work, Einstein?" asked Odd, putting on the specter band.

"All you have to do is press the button on the side and push down the crystal," said Jeremy.

"Like this?" asked Odd, pushing one of the three buttons on the side of the band. The crystal lit up, glowing purple. He gently pushed the crystal and the LYOKO symbol appeared. Odd's LYOKO form began to materialize on his body. In a matter of seconds, LYOKO Odd was standing in front of them.

"It works!" cried Jeremy.

"Odd, how do you feel?" asked Yumi.

Odd flexed his fingers and twitched his tail. "I feel fine. Actually, I feel better than fine. This is nowhere near as bad as the time you Jeremy-fied me. It feels . . . normal, like I'm supposed to be this way."

Odd leaped into the air and somersaulted, landing lightly on his feet.

"See if you can use your laser arrows," said Jeremy.

"What am I aiming for?" asked Odd.

"I have some soda cans you can use," said Kayla, running inside the house.

Kayla returned a few moments later with her arms full of soda cans. She placed them on the picnic table.

Odd waited for Kayla to step out of the way. He carefully aimed and fired. The soda can flew off the table and across the yard.

"There's one more thing you need to try," said Jeremy. "Press the button underneath the center one."

"What's that one do?" asked Ulrich.

"Bring up his vehicle, I hope," said Jeremy.

Odd pressed the button and his board materialized beside him. He hopped on and cruised around the yard.

"Jeremy, you are a genius," said Aelita, leaning over to kiss his cheek.

Jeremy blushed. "Thank you, Aelita."

"Since we now know that it works, how long until we all have specter bands?" asked Eva.

"A week, maybe two. It depends if I can get the parts I need," said Jeremy.

"I know a few places where I can get mobile phones for cheap," said Eva. "A second-hand store should have an assortment of watches you can choose from."

"So how do I turn back to normal?" asked Odd.

"When you turn back to normal, your vehicle will disappear," said Jeremy. "So you may want to get off first. Press the center button again and you'll have three seconds to push the crystal again. That way, if you bump it by accident in the middle of a fight, you only have to worry for a few seconds."

Odd hopped down and pressed the button and the crystal, changing back into his Earth form.

"What happens if we lose all our life points?" asked Yumi. "Will we die for real?"

"No, you'll power down first," said Jeremy. "It will be more of a strain on your real bodies since you're not on LYOKO. You'll feel tired after a battle."

"Just like we would in the real world without powers," said Eva.

"I probably have some of the parts to start making another specter band," said Kayla. "Let's go inside and see if we can find anything we can use."

They searched Kayla's house and found enough materials to make two complete specter bands.

"Looks like we won't have to be paying a fortune in materials," said Ulrich.

"I'll put these two together tonight and have them ready by tomorrow," said Jeremy.

"That'll make three of us with specter bands," said Yumi. "XANA will have its hands full with us."

That evening, Jeremy was putting the finishing touches to the two new specter bands. One was for Aelita and the other was for Ulrich.

"And done," said Jeremy. "Now all there is to do is test them for combat."

The supercomputer began to beep. It found XANA on the internet and was giving Jeremy its location.

"Huh? What is this?" Jeremy was being bombarded with information of XANA's location. It wasn't just another place in the world, Jeremy wasn't even sure if it was on Earth. "Franz Hopper's message."

Jeremy began typing to find out exactly where XANA was. A symbol popped up on the screen made up of two red ovals with a partial third and a red dot in the middle. He had never seen this symbol before. Another window popped up. It read: A little help. The message wasn't signed, but contained a file with images.

"'Chaotic'?" Jeremy read. "What is that?"

The images were of strange creatures and humans. Attached to the image folder was a document explaining everything.

"Chaotic: a game humans play for fun. Pits Creature against Creature in mock battles. The Creatures exist in Perim, separated into four tribes. They are constantly at war with each other. Humans travel to Perim using scanners and take scans of Creatures, battle gear, locations, and mugic for their mock battles."

Jeremy continued to read what Chaotic was.

"This is XANA's next target," groaned Jeremy.

* * *

The next day at lunch, Jeremy told everyone else about their findings.

"Well, it definitely sounds chaotic," snickered Odd once Jeremy finished.

"I never heard of such a game," said Eva.

"That's because it doesn't exist here," said Jeremy.

"Come again?" said Ulrich.

"I'm not sure how, but XANA crossed over into another world," said Jeremy. "It's like it's crossed over into another dimension entirely."

"I'm pretty good at handling strange, twisted plots in books, but I need an explanation," said Eva.

"Okay," said Jeremy. He picked up his half-eaten sandwich. "Think of it like this. Pretend the bread is Earth, the ham is Chaotic, and the cheese is Perim. Humans can travel to any one of those levels, but the Creatures cannot. Their scanners are like your specter bands; they only work for one person. That's how they keep the Creatures in Perim. Humans can transfer a code, their virtual selves per say, to Chaotic and Perim. If they want to return to Earth, their physical bodies have to answer their scanners. The code enters their minds and the memories are retrieved."

"I think I got it," said Eva.

"Then explain it to me, because I'm lost," said Odd.

"Their scanners only work with their minds, not the ones in the factory that transfer our entire bodies," Eva said. "In order for their physical selves to know what is happening in those other 'layers', they have to return to Earth. Did I cover everything?"

"More or less," said Jeremy.

"So how do we get there if it doesn't exist on our Earth?" asked Yumi.

"XANA used a special code to get there," said Jeremy. "If Aelita helps me, you'll be able to get to Perim."

"How soon?" asked Eva.

"Between the specter bands and the finding the code that XANA used, I'd say about two weeks," said Jeremy.

Eva shook her head. "We don't have two weeks," she said.

"Eva's right," said Aelita. "XANA can be very aggressive. It wants us out of the way. My father did say that it was after that world, too. Those Creatures may have no way to stop XANA."

"I know what you mean, Aelita," said Jeremy. "I still need to make three more specter bands."

"We'll find the materials," said Yumi. "You two focus on the code for now."

Jeremy pulled out a memory stick. "Eva, this is for you," he said, handing it to her. "It's the image files I received. Every one of them is labeled. I thought since you have the photographic memory, you would be able to memorize them quickly."

"No problem," said Eva. "What are the images of?"

"They're Creatures from Perim," said Jeremy. "You may run into them when you go there."

"In that case, we all should memorize them," said Eva. "Everyone, meet in my room after class? I'll have them all memorized by then."

"When will you get to do that between now and the end of class?" asked Ulrich.

"Do you mind taking notes for me?" asked Eva.

Kayla rolled her eyes. "Naughty, naughty," she teased.

Eva gave Kayla a playful slap and went back to her room.

"This is crazy," muttered Eva, looking at the images.

There was a knock on her door. Eva froze, thinking it might be Jim.

"Eva?" It was Kayla.

"Come in," Eva said.

The others came in and stood around the computer.

"Whoa, look at them all," said Kayla.

"I've been through all of them twice," said Eva. She pulled up several images. "These are the ones I believe are the most important."

Some of the images were humanoid and others were animal-like.

"There are four tribes," said Eva, isolating four symbols. "OverWorld, UnderWorld, Danian, and Mipedian." She isolated the Creature images. "These four here are the leaders of each tribe. Maxxor leads the OverWorld, Chaor leads the UnderWorld, Queen Illexia leads the Danians, and Prince Mudeenu leads the Mipedians."

"They look strong," said Ulrich.

Eva nodded. "Illexia, from what I can gather, doesn't fight. Mudeenu can, but Maxxor and Chaor are always at each other's throats." Eva enlarged the images of the green humanoid and the red gargoyle. "I foresee many problems if we cross them."

"What about these others?" asked Yumi, pointing to a corner of the screen.

Eva pulled up several images framed in blue. One was a red cat woman, one was a lion, and one was an old man with blue skin.

"Intress is Maxxor's second-in-command," said Eva, pointing to the cat woman.

"She's hot," said Odd.

"And she's way out of your league," Eva said. She moved her finger to the lion. "This is Tangeth Toborn. He's high up in the OverWorld army."

Kayla hummed in Eva's ear. "He's attractive," she said.

Eva turned around and looked at Kayla incredulously. She shook her head and went back to the final picture. "This is Najarin, a muge."

"A muge?" asked Odd. "What is that, someone who mixes magic with music?" He laughed at his own joke.

"Give that boy a gold star," said Eva. "He's right on the money."

"You're kidding," said Yumi.

"I was joking," said Odd.

"But you're right," Eva said. "The Creature use items like these—" Eva pulled up an image of hexagon object, "—to cast spells. But the mugic, these objects, play music when they are activated."

"Well, you know what they say; music soothes the savage beast," said Odd.

"Or in this case, damages," Aelita said.

"Aelita's right." Eva pulled up some more images. "Let's get to memorizing."


	3. Chapter 3

A few days later, Jeremy completed the final three specter bands. The following weekend, the seven of them got together at Kayla's house to test them. Her parents were out of town for the day, so they had the entire house and backyard to themselves.

"Are we going to battle or not?" asked Eva, her face looking like a skull in her LYOKO form.

Odd answered by shooting a laser arrow at her. Eva whipped around. Odd giggled. Eva disappeared. Odd winced and hopped on one foot, clutching his leg. Eva reappeared beside him.

"How do you like that?" asked Eva.

Ulrich dashed up to Eva, grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around. Eva landed on her behind and looked up at him.

"It looks like I got my speed," said Ulrich. "Let's see if I can triplicate."

Everyone watched in amazement as Ulrich triplicated. The copies wandered around Kayla's backyard, completely capable of independent thought.

"Okay," said Yumi, pulling out her fans. "My turn." She gave them a throw and concentrated, bringing her fingers to her temples. The fans twisted and turned unnaturally in the air and returned to Yumi. "I have my telekinesis ability. Your turn, Kayla."

Kayla walked over the stone birdbath. She bent down and lifted it from its pedestal.

"Wow! It's not even heavy," said Kayla. She let go and it made a huge thud that shook the ground. "Okay, maybe it is."

"Aelita, care to try some creativity?" Jeremy asked.

Aelita kneeled down and sang one clear note. A pillar of ice formed in front of them.

"This is great," said Yumi. "We have all of our powers."

"Yeah." Kayla stared at the ice pillar. "How am I going to explain this to my parents?"

"Sorry," said Aelita. "I wasn't thinking about that."

"You should be able to smash that, Kayla," said Eva.

"Oh!" Kayla pulled out her mace. "I didn't think of that."

Kayla gave a powerful swing and smashed the ice pillar.

"Anyone want a cold drink?" Odd asked with a smile.

"I could go for one," said Eva, heading for the house. "Kayla, do you have any O.J?"

"There are cookies on the counter," Kayla called after her.

"Cookies!" cried Odd. He ran into the house. "Dibs!"

"So what do you think?" Aelita asked Jeremy.

Jeremy tapped a few keys on his laptop. "Everything seems normal. The only way we can be sure is to have a battle."

"We can do that at the factory," said Yumi.

"Yeah, how many times have we had problems with XANA and it ended at the factory?" Ulrich asked.

"Hey!" Odd was sticking his head out the backdoor. "Do you guys want something to eat? Kayla's got all sorts of snacks in here."

"Stay out of those cheese puffs!" Kayla shouted, making a dash for the house.

The others powered down and went inside.

* * *

Najarin stood in front of the window looking over Lake Ken-i-po. The stars were shining brightly in the night sky. It was a bad omen and from what Najarin was hearing about strange beings and the appearances of glowing towers, disaster was about to strike the OverWorld and possibly all of Perim.

The door to the chamber opened.

"I've been waiting for you, Maxxor," Najarin said without turning away from the window.

"You said it was urgent," said Maxxor, entering the chamber and closing the door behind him.

"Is there any news from Ravanaugh Ridge?" asked Najarin, turning from the window.

"The tower is still there and so are those monstrous beings," growled Maxxor. "Now I am receiving reports of towers in the River Lands and the Maelstrom Lands. No one knows how the towers or these monsters came to be."

Najarin sighed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a mugic. "I was hoping I would not have to resort to this."

"What mugic is that, Najarin?" asked Maxxor.

"The Prelude of Precognition," replied Najarin. "I finished creating it this morning. It is a more powerful version of the Song of Future Sight."

"You need me to test it," Maxxor assumed.

"I need you here to help me," said Najarin. "I will use it. I need someone I can trust in case something goes wrong."

Maxxor nodded. "Then I will watch after you."

Najarin nodded. He held out his hand and the mugic rose into the air. "Prelude of Precognition!" The mugic played its tune, shining brightly.

Najarin found himself in a rocky valley. The light of the moon illuminated a narrow trail in front of him. Najarin started down the trail. He heard something moving in the shadows.

"Is someone there?" he called.

Something jumped on a large rock. Najarin looked up to see what appeared to be a human crouched above him.

"Oh, hello," said the human.

Najarin could see it was a human boy, but he had a tail and cat ears. His light hair was swept back and sticking in a point and he was dressed in purple. His face had purple and pink marks on his brow and on his cheeks. Upon closer inspection, Najarin saw that the cat ears were decoration.

The vision ended and Najarin felt himself falling. Maxxor was there to catch him and he helped Najarin to a nearby chair.

"I am all right," Najarin said wearily.

"What did you see?" Maxxor asked.

"A very strange human," replied Najarin.

Najarin told Maxxor about the boy and where they were.

"I believe this is only the beginning," Najarin said after he finished telling Maxxor about what he saw.

Maxxor nodded solemnly.

* * *

"Odd! Odd, wake up!"

Odd felt a stinging pain across his cheek as Ulrich slapped him.

"I'm okay," Odd quickly said, sitting up on the factory floor.

Everyone was standing around him.

"What happened?" asked Yumi.

"I saw Najarin," said Odd.

"You had a vision?" Ulrich asked.

"I thought you lost that ability," said Aelita.

"I thought so, too," Odd said, getting to his feet.

Eva held Odd's arm above the elbow to keep him from falling on the floor again. "I'm glad you're okay," she said. "I thought I hit you too hard."

"Odd's head is as hard as a rock," said Ulrich. "You don't have to worry about that."

Odd laughed mockingly at Ulrich.

"So what did you see?" asked Kayla.

"I saw Najarin," repeated Odd. "He didn't say much. I think I startled him."

"How could you have startled him?" asked Ulrich. "It's not like he could see you."

"He did," said Odd. Odd shifted nervously. "I don't think that was a vision of what is to come. I think I had an out of body experience."

"You may have," said Eva. They turned to her. "This Najarin makes me nervous. Ever since I saw his picture, I feel like he's just as big a threat as XANA."

Aelita's specter band flashed blue and gently vibrated on her wrist. "Yes, Jeremy?"

"You need to come down here and see this," said Jeremy.

The six of them went down to the supercomputer.

"What's up, Einstein?" asked Odd.

"I was trying to think of a way that we all could get out of school so you could go to Perim," said Jeremy. "I found this."

They looked over his shoulder to see something flashing on the screen.

"'You are a winner'?" Yumi read. "How's that going to help?"

"It's a special camp in Britain," said Jeremy. "If we can convince everyone that we won the trip, we can get out of school for a few weeks."

"How are we going to do that?" asked Aelita. "We need permission slips, documents stating that we won, signatures from our parents."

"I know someone who can do all that," Kayla said, turning to Eva.

Eva nodded. "I can forge a few signatures," she said.

"And I can use the voice disguising program to contact our parents," said Jeremy. "We'll tell them that we won the contest and that we are going to Britain for a few weeks."

"It could work," said Ulrich. "But what about you? You're not going to Perim, are you?"

"No, I'll stay here," said Jeremy. "I can monitor you using the specter bands."

"I can't just leave Kiwi," said Odd.

"I can keep him down here with me," said Jeremy.

"What about food and water?" asked Yumi.

"Let me worry about that," said Eva.

"We'll get the paperwork filled out and be ready to go as soon as I figure out the code XANA used," said Jeremy.

They wrapped up their practice session and headed for home.

"Kayla," said Eva. "Not to criticize your fashion sense, but I think you should think about wearing something more conducive to running."

Kayla looked down at her leggings and pencil skirt. "What's wrong with what I have on?"

"I don't think dressy boots and thin leggings are going to be the best thing you can wear," said Eva.

"Eva's right," said Yumi. "You should wear something a bit thicker than your leggings."

"I guess you're right," said Kayla. "I'll see what I have in my closet."

"We should be prepared for all sorts of environments," said Aelita. "We do not know what Perim's climate is like."

Odd was oddly quiet.

"You okay, Odd?" asked Ulrich.

"I'm just a little shook up after my vision," Odd said. "That Najarin was one scary old man."

"Be kind, Odd," said Eva. "He may be a very valuable ally in the future."


	4. Chapter 4

It was almost midnight and Jeremy was sitting at his desk, searching for the code XANA had used.

"Where are you?" whispered Jeremy.

He yawned for the third time in two minutes. His eyes were burning from staring at the computer screen for so long. His computer beeped and Jeremy smiled.

"Gotcha," he muttered before slumping over his keyboard.

In the morning, Ulrich knocked on Jeremy's door.

"Jeremy, are you in there?" he called. "We're going to be late."

Ulrich tried the knob and found it unlocked. He opened the door and found Jeremy asleep at his computer. Ulrich smiled and walked over to him.

"Jeremy," he said softly into his friend's ear. "Aelita kissed Odd."

"What?" Jeremy jumped up. He saw Ulrich's smiling face and laughed. "Oh, it's just you, Ulrich."

"Late night? Did you find anything?" Ulrich asked.

"Yes, I found the code," said Jeremy.

"That's great," said Ulrich. "Aelita says that she and Eva have worked everything out. We can leave tonight if we want."

"Good. XANA has a big lead on us and we keep dropping farther behind." Jeremy got a clean sweater out of his closet. "XANA's going to be in for a nasty surprise."

At lunch, the seven of them huddled together at their table.

"Eva and I sent everything to the principal this morning," said Aelita. "We used the voice disguising program to call everyone's parents to tell them about the contest. We're good to go."

"There are a few problems we have not addressed," said Eva. "How are we going to get food and water once we reach Perim? Where will we sleep?"

"When I found the code last night, I also checked the scan of Perim," said Jeremy. "I found a tower there."

"What would a tower be doing there?" asked Yumi.

"It would make sense if XANA cannot use electronic devices to create specters and monsters," said Aelita.

"You know, I've been thinking about that," said Eva. "I don't think there are any electronic devices in Perim."

"What gives you that idea?" asked Jeremy.

"All the images I looked at, not one of them had a lightbulb, a computer, or anything," said Eva. "I saw some candles in the background, but I think they are completely dependent on the land for everything they need."

"That means XANA will have to find alternate means of creating its armies," said Odd. "That's good news for us."

"Especially since we have the specter bands," said Aelita. "We can communicate with everyone with just a twist of the interface."

"And just what are you whispering about?" Jim was standing over them like a large dog catching another dog with his bone.

"Hey, Jim," chirped Odd. "Just planning what we want to get our favorite teacher for Teachers' Day."

"Oh, really?" asked Jim.

"I was thinking about a personalized sweatshirt and a nice gift card," said Odd. "You know, to a lovely restaurant."

"That's very nice of you, Odd," said Jim, a little color coming to his cheeks. "Suzanne may like that very much."

Kayla's jaw went slack and Eva arched an eyebrow.

"I hear you are going on a trip of a British school for a few weeks," said Jim.

"It's part of an exchange program," said Jeremy.

"You stay out of trouble," said Jim.

"Don't worry," said Eva. "I'll make sure they do."

Jim walked away.

"Keep us out of trouble?" giggled Kayla, playfully slapping Eva. "More like you'll get us into trouble."

"We'll meet at the factory after class," said Jeremy. "Have your bags packed like you were going on the trip."

"You got it, Einstein," said Odd.

* * *

Tom was visiting the OverWorld arsenal. He needs a new scan of some battle gear and the only way he was going to get that was to work. Bodal had him counting cyclances and moving boxes that weighed more than him.

Exhausted, Tom sat down on the box he was moving to catch his breath.

"Najarin's worried?"

Tom listened carefully. It sounded like Tangeth Toborn.

"He is."

That was Maxxor's voice. Tom would know it anywhere.

"What should we do?" Tangeth Toborn asked.

"The only thing we can do for now is keep our eyes and ears open," said Maxxor. "These monsters, they have no remorse. They destroy whatever they come across. I heard that there is a human with them as well. He seems to be in charge."

Tom got up and moved around to the shelf where they were.

"These towers keep appearing all over the OverWorld," Maxxor was saying. "There is one in the River Lands and the Maelstrom Lands. I received a message from Prince Mudeenu saying that there are several in Mipedian."

_This is interesting,_ thought Tom. _I better check it out._

Tom 'ported to the River Lands, a usually peaceful location. Instead of finding peace, he felt a dark foreboding feeling. There was a strange tower about a quarter mile from where he was standing. It was brown at the bottom and became cream colored as it rose into the sky. There was a sinister red aura around it.

A shot fired over Tom's head! He turned and saw a large lanky being walking on four thin legs. It had a long snout and the symbol of an eye on its light tan head. It jumped up on two legs and its front legs shot two bolts of red light. One hit Tom in the arm. He yelped and 'ported back to Chaotic.

"What was that?" he asked, standing on the transport disk.

Whatever it was, he had to tell the others.

"I saw one of those towers, too," said Sarah after Tom found them and explained what happened to him. "Wamma and I were down at the Danian reservoir and there was one in the middle of the water on a tiny island. No one knows how it got there, but every time they try to reach it, something shoots them out of the water."

"H'earing told me that there's one at Iron Pillar," said Kaz. "I thought he was making it up."

"Were there monsters there, too?" asked Tom.

"He said something about a Creature who lurks in the shadows," said Kaz. "He didn't get a good look at him."

"So they're everywhere," said Tom thoughtfully. "We have to do something."

"Like what?" asked Kaz.

"I heard Maxxor saying that there's a human who may be calling the shots," said Tom.

"And what are you going to do when you find him?" asked Kaz. "Ask him to stop destroying Perim?"

"It crossed my mind," responded Tom.

"Let's figure out what they want first," said Peyton. "Then we can figure out a solution."

"Peyton's right," said Sarah. "We don't know what's going on, so let's not stick our noses into something that isn't our business."

"I can't sit by and do nothing," said Tom.

"I know," Kaz said, putting a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder. "But that's all we can do for now."


	5. Chapter 5

Everyone was dressed and ready by suppertime. The seven of them ate in the supercomputer room. Kiwi sniffed around and made his bed off to the side of the room away from the elevator. Eva had brought food for all of them for several days.

"If you need more, I have a friend who owes me a few favors," said Eva. "Ask for Twister down at the warehouses. He'll get you anything you need."

"Since there are towers in Perim, I'll be able to send supplies," said Jeremy. "The towers will provide a place to sleep and to heal."

"That's good," said Yumi. "And Aelita can get information from you."

"It's not like we are going to disconnect unless you are in a tower," said Jeremy. "I can still communicate with you."

Ulrich put his bowl down. "Well, ready to go?"

"Let's do this," said Yumi.

"Wait," said Eva. She took a small lockbox from her one backpack. She opened it to reveal six pocket knives, each with a different colored handle. "I thought it would be a good idea to keep some sort of weapon with us at all times. I had them personalized."

Ulrich picked up the red pocket knife. "'To my brother. Love Eva.'"

"You know I think of you as my family," said Eva.

"It's beautiful, Eva," said Ulrich, tracing his fingers over the crossed swords etching next to the message.

Yumi took the green knife with the fans, Odd took the purple with the cartoon cat face, Kayla took the yellow with the sun, and Aelita took the pink with the angel wings.

Eva took the final pocket knife from the box. "I thought you should have one, too," she said to Jeremy, handing him the knife.

Jeremy turned it over in his hands. It was turquoise with binary code next to the inscription.

Eva held up her dark blue knife. Hers had a ghost etched on the handle. "Now we may go."

"Eva," Kayla said, getting up. "Are these clothes okay?"

They all turned to Kayla. She was wearing a pair of dark brown convertible pants, a red three-quarter length sleeved top, a gold cardigan, and hiking boots.

"Can you run in those boots if you need to?" asked Eva.

"Yes," replied Kayla.

"Then you're fine," said Eva, heading for the scanners.

"I'll see you soon, Kiwi," Odd said, patting the little dog on the head. "You be good for Jeremy."

"This is your first time in Sector Five, right?" Yumi asked Eva.

"It is," said Eva.

"It's a little different from the other sectors," said Yumi.

They were sent to Sector Five. Eva and Kayla stared at the skid.

"Whoa," said Eva.

"Okay, everyone," said Jeremy. "Get into position."

Aelita, Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd stepped onto the platform.

"What about us, Jeremy?" asked Kayla.

"Just wait a minute," said Jeremy. Jeremy transferred the others into the skid. "Okay, now step onto the platform."

Kayla and Eva stepped onto the same platform and were transferred to another vehicle. Kayla sat up front and Eva directly behind her. They were sitting in the cockpit of a small, pale yellow glider.

"What is this, Jeremy?" asked Kayla.

"My surprise to you, Kayla," replied Jeremy. "I created a vehicle that attaches to the skid."

Kayla carefully attached her vehicle to the skid. Jeremy released the supports and they headed into the celestial dome.

"Everyone ready?" Aelita asked as they exited into another sector.

"Ready for what?" asked Kayla uneasily.

"Diving," said Aelita.

Kayla and Eva screamed as they fell into the digital sea.

"You okay, ladies?" asked Odd with a chuckle.

"I'm okay," Kayla said with a nervous laugh.

"Eva?" Odd asked. "Eva?"

"I will slap you," whispered Eva.

"Odd, when we get to Perim, I would advise you to run," Kayla said.

"Keep your eyes open for monsters," said Jeremy.

Kayla stared out the transparent cockpit. "This is the internet? It looks like a city."

"Here's the hub," said Aelita. "Jeremy?"

"I'm entering the code right now, Aelita," said Jeremy. "You are good to go."

They dove into the hub and were sent at high speed through the internet. They emerged from another hub.

"There's your stop," said Jeremy.

In front of them was a large door with the Chaotic symbol on it. Aelita shot a light at the symbol and the door opened. The skid glided in and the door closed behind them. They rose out of the water and found themselves in the ocean. There was an island nearby with a red tower.

"Looks like XANA is already up to its old tricks," said Ulrich.

"Heads up," said Jeremy. "You have three hornets headed your way."

"Eva, Kayla, you're up," said Aelita.

"Okay," Kayla said uncertainly.

Kayla detached from the skid.

"You only need one hand to drive the glider," said Jeremy. "You can use your mace with your other hand."

"Great," said Kayla. "Except I can't swing it in here."

"Push the green button on the side of the joystick," said Jeremy.

Kayla pressed the button and the cockpit opened, the controls shifting upwards. She carefully stood up and pulled out her mace.

"Eva, here's your surprise," said Jeremy.

Beside the cockpit, a board much like Odd's appeared. The nose was rounded and black, the back was black and dark blue, and the middle was clear with a black frame.

"What do you think?" asked Jeremy.

Eva hopped out of the cockpit and landed on the board. It rocked under her weight and she quickly got her balance. Eva accelerated and shot off in the direction of the hornets. She used a power pulse to take out one hornet.

Kayla flew in beside her and began swinging her morning star. It smashed into the head of the second hornet. The third hornet began shooting at Kayla. The glider shook violently, threatening to dump Kayla out of the cockpit. Eva saw and quickly turned around. She fired a power pulse and destroyed the hornet.

"You okay?" Eva called.

"I'm fine," replied Kayla.

Aelita parked the skid beside the red tower and hurried inside to deactivate it.

"One tower down," Aelita said, coming out of the tower. "We'll keep the skid here and cloak it."

"This island is very quiet," said Eva.

"Oh, good," said Odd with a sigh of relief. "I was beginning to think that I was the only one who noticed. There isn't much life here, is there?"

"It's a good thing," said Aelita. "We won't have to worry about the skid being found."

Ulrich looked up at the sky. "It's getting dark," he said. "Do you think we should stay in this tower for tonight?"

"How far away is the next one?" asked Yumi.

"Far," replied Jeremy over their specter bands.

"I don't want to walk into one of XANA's traps," said Ulrich.

"Ulrich's right," said Eva. "I think we should stay here."

The six of them went into the tower for the night.


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning they got up and ate breakfast courtesy of Jeremy. He figured out a way to send them food via the towers. It wasn't much, but it would get them through the day.

"From what I can tell," Jeremy said, "the closest activated tower is in the desert near a place called al-Mipedim."

"No doubt XANA knows we're here," said Ulrich.

Eva nodded in agreement. "We'll have to watch our backs. None of us should be by ourselves if we can help it."

"You're right," said Yumi. "We should have at least one other person with us."

"Can we get going?" asked Ulrich. "We're burning daylight."

They began flying in the direction of the desert. Ulrich rode with Kayla and Aelita rode with Yumi. Odd and Eva flanked them, scanning for trouble. The terrain slowly turned to desert and they searched for monsters and any sign of the tower.

"Jeremy, can you see anything?" asked Yumi.

"Nothing on my screen," said Jeremy.

"Let me try." Aelita closed her eyes. "I sense it," she said. She pointed to a group of rocks. "There!"

Eva sucked in a breath. "We got trouble," she said.

"Eva's right," said Jeremy. "There are five crabs hiding in those rocks."

Odd got ahead of them and swooped down, drawing the crabs' fire.

"Kayla, follow me," said Eva, descending to attack.

Kayla followed. Ulrich pulled one saber and climbed onto the wing of the glider. When they were low enough, he jumped and plunged his saber into a crab. Eva fired and struck a second crab, her body disappearing into a third. Kayla aimed carefully and crushed a fourth. The crab Eva was possessing shot the remaining crab and she leaped back onto her board, the crab she possessed exploding.

Yumi brought Aelita close enough to the ground so she could jump. Aelita dashed inside the tower and deactivated it.

"I noticed that these towers turn blue after they are deactivated," said Eva.

"That's what color they originally were before XANA tried to destroy LYOKO the first time," said Aelita.

"Um, guys?" Jeremy said. "You've got company. It's not a monster, but it isn't human either. And there's another activated tower one mile east."

"Are there any monsters?" asked Eva.

"Not that I can see," replied Jeremy.

"If it's all right with you, I would like to see what a Creature looks like up close," said Eva.

"Count me in," said Odd. "I'll stay with Eva."

"We'll go on to the next tower," said Yumi.

"Good luck," Kayla said to Odd and Eva. "And Eva, do stay out of trouble."

"No promises," said Eva.

The others left, leaving Odd and Eva to figure out what was coming their way. Neither of them could see anything, but Eva could feel something watching them.

"Eva?" Odd said quietly to his friend.

Eva shushed him.

"Eva."

"Be quiet, Odd," she whispered.

"I think Jeremy's scan is broken," said Odd. "There's no one here."

"There is," said Eva, standing up on her board. "If you are quiet and listen, you'll hear them."

Odd listened intently and heard sand shift below them. He turned to Eva, who had a small smile on her lips.

"See?" she asked.

Odd nodded. "Yeah, I hear 'em. What should we do?"

Eva lowered her board and sat down, her boots gently brushing the sand. Odd watched as she quietly sat and waited. He could see sand being displaced around Eva's board, like someone was circling around her.

"Eva," Odd said, afraid whatever was down there would hurt her. "I think you may want to get up here."

"It's okay," said Eva. "If they wanted to hurt me, they would have already."

Eva felt something move behind her. She held still as something, she guessed a hand, brushed her arm.

"I've never seen a human like you before," came a gravelly, hissing voice.

Odd saw a lizard like Creature appear behind Eva. He yelled for her to move, but Eva simply looked up at him.

"Are you going to come down here or what?" she asked.

Odd came down and hovered in front of Eva and the Creature.

"You two are human, yes?" the Creature asked.

Eva turned around, recognizing him immediately. "Your name's Sobtjek, right?"

"Yes," replied the Creature.

Odd stared wide-eyed at Eva. "I am so glad you have a good memory."

"You know who I am, but I do not know who you are," said Sobtjek.

"My name's Eva. This is Odd."

"Hey," said Odd with a nervous chuckle.

"If I may ask, what are you two doing out here?" Sobtjek asked. "These towers are guarded by monsters. Be thankful that they are not around at the moment. You should leave."

Odd burst into a giggling fit. "He missed the fireworks," he snickered.

"Your friend does not seem to understand the danger you are in," Sobtjek said to Eva.

"He knows exactly how much danger we are in," Eva responded. "That's why he's laughing."

Eva's specter band turned bright blue and vibrated. "Yes, Jeremy?"

"Aelita's deactivated the other tower," Jeremy informed them. "They're on their way back. Is everything okay on your end?"

"Everything's fine, Jeremy," said Eva.

"Uh, Eva?" Jeremy said. "I hate to break it to you, but you two have more company. I only see one, but there's a tarantula headed your way."

"Thanks, Jeremy," said Eva.

"Game time," said Odd, rising into the air. "I'll see you soon!" He flew off in the direction of the tarantula.

"Where is he going?" asked Sobtjek.

A laser fired and hit Eva in the arm. She looked around to see another tarantula coming their way.

"Okay, you want to play?" Eva growled, rubbing her arm. She disappeared. "Then we'll play."

The tarantula aimed at the only target it could see: Sobtjek. Sobtjek quickly disappeared. The tarantula looked around for its targets.

Suddenly Eva appeared in front of it. "Peekaboo!" A power pulse slammed into the tarantula's head and it blew up.

"How did you do that?" Sobtjek asked, making himself visible.

Eva called Jeremy. "You said there was one," she said.

"Sorry," apologized Jeremy. "That was the only one on my screen."

"Is Odd okay?" Eva asked.

"I'm fine," Odd replied flying down to meet them. "The others are coming."

Yumi and Kayla landed nearby. Ulrich hopped down, a hand on his saber. Yumi had a fan in her hand.

Eva threw up her hand. "It's okay," she said. "We're all friends here."

"I guess Jeremy told you that I deactivated the other tower," said Aelita. "XANA didn't even bother guarding it."

"Three towers down, who knows how many to go," said Ulrich.

"We can do it," said Kayla. "We haven't even been here a full day and we already threw a wrench in XANA's plans."

Kayla turned to Sobtjek and smiled. "Hi!" she chirped.

"Hello," said Sobtjek.

"These are our friends," Odd said to Sobtjek. "Ulrich, Yumi, Kayla, and Aelita."

"We should get out of the sun," said Sobtjek. "We are not far from al-Mipedim. We can continue this conversation there. I'm sure you all are thirsty. Many humans make the mistake of coming here without enough water."

They followed Sobtjek on foot, devirtualizing their vehicles. They reached the city of al-Mipedim and they sat under an awning of a building. Sobtjek kindly passed a ladle of water around.

"We should power down for a little while," said Aelita. "We know that these bands can take a lot, but we never tested them to withstand prolonged exposure to high temperatures."

Sobtjek watched in amazement as light traveled over their bodies, changing their appearance.

"Oh, wow!" said Odd. "I never noticed how hot it was until now."

"It makes sense," said Yumi. "Remember the time XANA has us trapped in the refrigerated warehouse? Mr. Delmas never noticed the cold. I guess temperature doesn't affect our specter forms like they do our regular forms."

Ulrich shrugged off his military jacket. "Now we know that we can't die because of the cold or the heat."

"What are you six doing out here?" asked Sobtjek. "And how are you able to fight like us?"

"We've been fighting XANA for a long time now," said Ulrich. "At first it was to save Aelita, but we keep running into problems that keep us from destroying XANA for good."

"We always thought it would take over Earth first," said Aelita. "Then it found this place. I don't want to think of what XANA can do here. We know that it's limited, but it can still cause a lot of trouble."

"If we can deactivate all the towers in Perim, we can get XANA out of here," said Yumi. "We won't destroy it for good, but it will be a victory."

"I wish you the best of luck," said Sobtjek. "If there is anything I can do."

Aelita shook her head. "I don't think there is much you can do," she said. "I'm the only one who can deactivate a tower."

"There is a simple way to defeat the monsters," said Yumi. "In case you run into any more, aim for the spot that looks like an eye."

Eva rose from her seat. "Thank you for everything," she said. She turned to the others. "Let's go, guys. We can have another tower deactivated before we lose all our daylight."

* * *

"I found something interesting," Jeremy said as the six of them cruised the desert. They had deactivated a total of five towers and were getting ready to move to the sixth. "Not all of the towers are activated. The next tower is a way tower and not active. You can use it to get to your next location."

"That's great," said Odd. "Maybe we don't have as much work as we thought we did."

"Don't jinx it, Odd!" Kayla said.

"Stop off in the way tower," said Jeremy. "I need Aelita to send me information about the locations. I can create a better map of Perim. We don't want monsters sneaking up on us."

"Way tower in sight," said Yumi.

The six of them entered and parked their vehicles. Aelita pulled up the interface screen and sent Jeremy as much information as the tower held.

"Okay," said Jeremy after a few minutes. "This tower will take you to the UnderWorld."

"Anyone we should look out for, Eva?" asked Aelita.

"Chaor," replied Eva. "It's rough in the UnderWorld from what I can tell. Chaor's the baddest of the bad down there."

"So avoid Chaor," said Odd. "Got it."

"Come on," said Aelita. "There's an activated tower in the UnderWorld."

They flew down into the date stream and moved on to the next tower. They exited and found themselves in a cavern.

"Where to, Jeremy?" asked Odd.

"You're heading for a place called Iron Pillar," Jeremy answered. "It is southwest of your position."

They followed the tunnels and found themselves in a large cavern with a giant metal pillar supporting the ceiling. It dwarfed the tower in front of it, making it look like a toothpick next to a tree.

"You have company," said Jeremy. "XANA's sent you some creepers to play with."

"Okay. Ready, Ulrich?" Kayla asked.

Ulrich pulled his saber. "Yeah."

Kayla swooped down and swung her morning star. It struck a creeper in the head. Ulrich jumped and stabbed another in the head. Yumi's fan took a third out.

"How many more, Jeremy?" Yumi asked.

"Two from what I can see," Jeremy replied. "The problem is my screen's gone all fuzzy. There's some sort of interference."

"Eva, do you know what's happening?" asked Kayla.

Eva groaned. "I know exactly what's happening," she said. "Iron Pillar is a no battle gear zone. It may affect our specter bands. The closer you get to it, the more likely you'll have a malfunction."

"Let's hope that the tower is far enough away so I can deactivate it," said Aelita.

"I'll leave you off here," said Yumi, landing her over-wing.

Aelita got down and began running for the tower.

The others circled as close as they dared to the pillar, searching for monsters. Kayla found one lurking in the shadows and Odd took one out with a laser arrow sitting on a ledge. Eva circled, keeping a close eye on Aelita. Ulrich was with her, which eased Eva's nerves somewhat.

Aelita entered the tower and a moment later it turned blue.

"That's one tower down in the UnderWorld," said Kayla. "How many more, Jeremy?"

"From what I can tell, two, maybe three," replied Jeremy.

They all gathered in front of the tower and Aelita exited. Kayla noticed that Eva was more grim than usual, even with her LYOKO makeup. Eva was staring off into space, a behavior that was quite rare for her.

"Eva? Are you okay?" Kayla asked. "What's wrong?"

"I think we need to leave," she said. "Let's go!"

"Eva's right," said Jeremy. "There's something big headed your way. Take the tower and it will take you to the next UnderWorld location."

The six of them devirtualized their vehicles and ran into the tower.

* * *

Najarin was still feeling the aftereffects of the Prelude of Precognition mugic. It had been a few days since he used it, but he was still catching glimpses of the strange human boy and what appeared to be his friends. At first he had been able to hear what they were saying, but now it was only quick flashes.

He was beginning to find it frustrating. Najarin would attempt to hold onto the vision for a few seconds, but it only bought another flash before the vision ended. The only thing he was certain of was that the strange human was not alone.

"What exactly is happening?" Najarin muttered to himself.


	7. Chapter 7

The LYOKO warriors had powered down for the time being. They were sitting in a tower to rest and get something to eat. Jeremy had sent them peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch.

Aelita was busy at the interface screen. She was sending Jeremy information of the UnderWorld so he could create a map for them. The others were quiet, especially Eva. They noticed there was a change in her demeanor.

"What is it?" asked Kayla. "Come on, Eva, you know you can tell me anything."

Eva shook her head. "I have a bad feeling about the next tower."

"Jeremy found it," said Aelita, getting up from her seat in the center of the tower. "You're probably not going to like this. The next activated tower is somewhere in UnderWorld City."

"Great," muttered Eva. "I knew that something was about to go wrong."

"What's in UnderWorld City besides a tower?" asked Kayla.

Eva looked at Kayla with a you-should-know look. "Chaor," Eva answered.

"Oh, boy," said Ulrich.

"This is going to get crazy," Odd said with a smile.

"We're going to need a plan," said Yumi. "I don't think going there in our LYOKO forms is a good idea."

"It'll raise too much suspicion," agreed Eva. "You remember how Sobtjek reacted to us. We don't want XANA knowing we are there until we want it to."

"Then we'll go in as normal humans," said Aelita.

"Well, as normal as we can be," Kayla giggled, turning to Odd.

Odd smiled at her.

"We'll go when everyone is sleeping," said Eva.

"We shouldn't bunch up, either," said Ulrich. "If we go in as pairs, we can cover more ground quicker."

"How do you want us to do that?" asked Yumi.

Aelita thought for a moment. "Ulrich and Yumi can be a pair and Kayla and Odd can be another. I'll go with Eva, if that suits everyone."

"Great," said Odd, putting his arm around Kayla's shoulders.

"What do you think?" Yumi asked Ulrich.

Ulrich smiled. "I'm fine with the arrangement," he said.

Eva nodded. "I'll watch out for Aelita. Don't worry."

* * *

They waited until midnight to enter UnderWorld City. Yumi and Ulrich took the east side, Odd and Kayla took the west, and Eva and Aelita took the south.

"Sorry, I can only give you an estimation," said Jeremy. "It seems XANA has cloaked it."

"Aelita can find it," said Ulrich. "Right, Aelita?"

"Yes," Aelita replied.

Eva walked beside Aelita with her hood up and her hands in her pockets. Her hand traced the ghost of her pocket knife. Though no one who passed could see her face, Eva would be able to see theirs.

"This place is beautiful," Eva whispered, looking at the architecture of the buildings. All the buildings were made out of dark stone. The chimneys were not straight, but crooked, like flames reaching for the gloomy sky.

"Beautiful? More like creepy," Aelita said, moving closer to Eva.

No one was in the streets at that time of the night. The six of them kept to the shadows and paced the streets of the city.

"So, sunshine," Odd said to Kayla. "What do you like to do in your spare time?"

Kayla gave Odd a funny look. "We are in the middle of a mission and you're asking me what my hobbies are?"

"Yeah," replied Odd. "It's the only time I get to talk to you when Eva's not around. I have a feeling she doesn't like me so much."

"She didn't break your hands yet, so she must like you," said Kayla.

"Okay," said Odd, biting his lower lip.

Kayla giggled. "I like shopping."

"Every girl does," said Odd.

"Not Eva. She hates shopping for clothes."

"I'm not sure Eva's a girl," said Odd.

Kayla playfully slapped Odd's arm. "That was mean!" she said with a smile.

Odd threw up his hands. "Sorry! So what else do you like?"

"Dancing," replied Kayla. "I love dancing. Not like Eva. I prefer something more traditional."

"Ballroom dancing?" Odd snickered. "I don't think I would have guessed."

"I'm not bad at it either," Kayla added.

"Well—hey, we got trouble!"

Odd and Kayla pressed themselves against the side of a building, peeking around the corner. There was a group of blocks marching down the main street toward the castle.

"Hey, guys," Odd whispered into his specter band. "I think I know where the tower is. Aelita, can you see if you can sense anything inside the castle?"

Aelita closed her eyes and searched for the tower. There was a faint pulse coming from inside the castle. Not inside, under!

"The tower is under the castle," said Aelita.

"Oh, boy," said Odd.

"Looks like we have to go into the lion's den," said Ulrich.

"How do we want to do this?" asked Kayla. "We can't knock on the front door and ask to use the bathroom."

Yumi and Ulrich yelled. They hit the ground as lasers flew over their heads. They looked behind them and saw a group of blocks coming up behind them.

"We have bigger problems," said Yumi.

"Same here," said Kayla.

Odd and Kayla were cornered in an alley, surrounded by blocks.

"Aelita!" Jeremy called.

"We're okay," Aelita's panting voice came. "Eva and I will go to the tower. The rest of you are going to have your hands full with those monsters. Back us up when you can."

Aelita and Eva rushed for the castle, powering up as they ran. By now the commotion in the streets caused by both monster and LYOKO warrior had awakened a few of the Creatures. They came to their windows to see what was happening. Seeing that they were under attack, they raced outside and joined the fray.

"This is crazy!" Yumi said, catching one of her fans and deflecting a block's attack with the other.

"You're telling me," said Ulrich, his back pressed against hers.

A Creature let loose a fiery attack. They had to duck to avoid getting hit. The blocks they had been battling were annihilated.

"They don't care who they hit," Ulrich said, getting up. "To them, we're as big a threat!"

"Watch out!" Yumi knocked Ulrich to the ground as a hornet flew overhead, spewing acid. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine," said Ulrich.

They got up and brushed themselves off.

"Looks like XANA isn't giving this tower up without a fight," said Yumi, watching more hornets join the one who attacked them.

Ulrich twisted the interface on his wrist until it turned purple. "How are you two doing?"

"Great," Odd's voice replied. "Other than getting caught in a gauntlet, we're just peachy!"

Odd leapt into the air to avoid being shot by a block. He back flipped and shot the block while he was in midair.

Kayla's morning star smashed through a block, tearing it in half. Something shot her in the leg! She looked down and saw a kankerlot by her ankle. Kayla picked it up and hurled it into a block that was sneaking up behind a Minotaur-like Creature. The explosion of the two monsters caused the Creature to turn around. He saw the monsters' remnants and looked at Kayla, who was smiling.

"Kayla, behind you!" Odd shouted.

Kayla turned around to see a crab charging. The Minotaur Creature leapt over Kayla, slicing the crab in half with his battle axe.

"Thank you," Kayla said.

"Kayla, Odd, you two better get moving," Jeremy said. "Ulrich and Yumi are going to need some help."

"How are Eva and Aelita doing?" asked Kayla.

"Pretty good by the looks of things," Jeremy replied. "I haven't heard anything."

Aelita had carried Eva up to an open window of the castle. They were currently sneaking around the corridors, hiding in the many alcoves.

"This Chaor has quite a love for medieval weaponry," Aelita said, looking at the spiked shields and wicked battle axes on the walls.

"You can share decorating tips later," said Eva, picking up the pace. "We need to find a stairwell that'll lead to the cellar."

Eva grabbed Aelita and shoved her into an alcove. A group of guards ran by.

"Where are they going?" Aelita asked.

"The others are making a scene outside," said Eva. "They're probably going to defend the city."

Listening carefully, the girls heard more guards coming. Knowing they couldn't stay there, Aelita and Eva began looking for escape routes. Aelita noticed a gap in the wall. She tapped Eva on the shoulder. Together, they wedged their fingers into the gap and push. The wall slid open, revealing a secret passage. By the time the guards passed by, Eva and Aelita were safely hidden in the secret passage.

"Jeremy," Aelita whispered.

"I'm here," said Jeremy. "Where are you? My map says you're inside the wall."

"We are," said Aelita, following Eva down the dimly lit passage. "There must be secret passages all over the castle."

"Okay, I'll track you two and form a partial map of the secret passages," said Jeremy, opening a new window on his screen. "I can't make a complete map without the information from the UnderWorld City tower."

"Thanks, Jeremy," said Aelita and turned her communicator off.

Eva stopped where several passageways met and raised her fist. She looked down the passageways, but saw nothing.

"What?" whispered Aelita.

Eva disappeared and Aelita felt a gentle push on her back. She kept walking, listening for Eva. There was a screech and something dropped from the ceiling. Aelita screamed as a giant spider got to its feet. The spider's face was slammed to the ground and Eva reappeared in midair after stomping on its head.

"I thought I felt someone watching us," Eva said.

"Miserable human!" hissed the spider. He looked up at Eva and flinched. "I never noticed you. I thought there was only one of you." The spider continued to stare at Eva, contemplating whether she was human.

Eva chuckled. "What?" she asked. "Afraid of the unknown?"

"What's there to be afraid of?" the spider hissed.

"This." Eva's power pulse hit the spider in the face and sent him flying backwards. "Come on."

Aelita followed Eva as she ran down a passage.

"Here," said Eva, pressing on a wall.

The wall turned and Aelita and Eva exited onto a balcony. There were Creatures below them and they both dropped behind the balcony wall. Aelita saw the fearful look on Eva's face.

"What?" she mouthed.

"Chaor," Eva mouthed back.

"Here?"

Eva disappeared and looked below. Chaor was standing with two other Creatures by his throne. A guard was giving his report.

"Sir, we've managed to stop the monsters from reaching the castle," the guard was saying.

"How many are there?" Chaor asked.

"Too many to count," the guard replied. "We take out one and another takes its place."

The doors to the throne room burst open. Two tarantulas entered with an all too familiar face between them.

"And more will come," William said with a smirk.

Aelita stifled a cry.

Eva knelt down without becoming visible. "You get to the tower. Go back the way we came and call the others once you get out of earshot of William."

"What about you?" Aelita asked, guessing where Eva's white eyes were.

Aelita could almost feel Eva's smile. "I'll do what I do best," she replied. "Now go."

Aelita crawled back to the passage door and entered.

Eva stood up and carefully positioned herself on the balcony wall. She would only get one shot at her target.

William shocked the Creatures, causing them to fall to the ground, unable to fight.

"Soon we will rule Perim," William said, his voice distorted. "And there is nothing you can do to stop us."

Eva jumped. Her body disappeared into the tarantula. The tarantula didn't even have a chance to fight as Eva quickly took over its mind.

The tarantula shot its partner and then exploded. William whipped around to face his new enemy. He didn't see anything, only the white ghostly form of Eva's power pulse. The force sent him sailing through the air.

Eva became visible. "That's for stabbing me in the back, Dunbar!" she shouted, her voice rough with rage.

William got to his feet and summoned his blade. "This isn't LYOKO. You'll die here."

"And I'm guessing you won't," said Eva. She chuckled.

"What's so funny?" growled William. "Don't you know the chances of getting out of here in one piece? And the chances of Aelita deactivating the tower? Do you think that's funny?"

Eva smiled maliciously. "The odds have always been stacked against me."

William charged his blade and slashed the air. Eva jumped into the air to avoid the energy slash. William prepared a second strike. Eva landed on her hands and knees. She looked up and saw the vertical slice coming. She pushed off the ground and spun to her left. Getting back to her feet, Eva flipped over William's blade. When he brought it back to slice her in half, she did a back flip to avoid it and punched him in the face. William staggered back, holding his nose.

"What, you didn't think I would go down that easy, did you?" Eva asked.

William let out a frustrated yell. He aimed for Eva's head and swung as hard as he could. William may have been strong, but Eva was more agile. She dropped to her knees. William turned to smoke and reappeared behind Eva. Eva shifted her weight to her hands, using both feet to kick William in the stomach. She put both feet back on the ground and back flipped into the air, landing behind William. A power pulse struck William in the back. Eva jumped over William to face him. With one last power pulse, Eva finished William, turning him into black smoke.

Eva turned to the Creatures. They were stunned, but not hurt. Eva ran out of the throne room and down the corridor. Aelita had to be close to the tower by now.

* * *

Meanwhile, the others weren't doing so well.

"Odd, watch out!" Kayla yelled.

Odd cartwheeled out of a crab's line of fire before he could be shot. Odd fired and destroyed the crab only to have another shoot at him.

"This is crazy!" he shouted to Kayla.

"You're telling me," Kayla shouted back. Kayla yelped and tumbled back, devirtualizing as she fell.

"Kayla!" Odd yelled. He fumbled with his specter band. "Jeremy, Kayla's down."

"So is Ulrich," Yumi's voice came. "How's Aelita?"

"She's almost at the tower," replied Jeremy.

"What about Eva?" asked Odd.

"I haven't heard from her."

Odd couldn't do anything for Eva or Aelita at the moment, but he could help Kayla. He jumped in front of her, shielding her from the monsters' attacks. The Minotaur Creature destroyed a crab and stepped to Odd's side.

"I got this," he said. "You take care of her!"

Odd nodded. He picked up Kayla and rushed to find her a safe place until he could come back for her.

Yumi was doing the same thing for Ulrich. At least he was awake for the most part.

"Come on, Ulrich," said Yumi, dragging him along beside her.

Ulrich sank against the side of a building. "Go," he told her, pushing Yumi's hands away. "Just go."

"I'm not leaving you," said Yumi.

Eva was sprinting down corridors, following the commotion that was created by guards and monsters. Aelita must have come this way if there were monsters.

Aelita had come that way. There was a narrow staircase that led to the cellar via the kitchen. Passing wine racks and ale barrels, she found an archway that led into a cavern. And there was the tower, gleaming red as blood.

"Jeremy, I found it," said Aelita.

"Hurry up and deactivate it. Ulrich and Kayla are already down and I haven't heard anything from Eva."

Aelita began to run to the tower. A monster's cry made her stop.

"Jeremy! The Scyphozoa!" she cried, quickly retreating to avoid its tentacles.

"You have to get passed it somehow," said Jeremy. "There isn't much time. I don't think the others can hold on."

Aelita used her energy fields, but she kept missing. The Scyphozoa wrapped its tentacles around her and lifted her into the air.

"Aelita! Oh, no!"

"What's going on, Jeremy?" asked Yumi.

"The Scyphozoa's got Aelita," said Jeremy. "And there's nothing we can do."

There was a mad battle cry and a white pulse of energy slammed into the Scyphozoa, causing it to drop Aelita.

"Get away from her!" roared Eva.

A second power pulse hit the Scyphozoa, deterring it enough to retreat. Eva kneeled down and shook Aelita awake. She looked up into Eva's pale face.

"Eva," she breathed, her voice full of gratitude.

"We need you," said Eva. She pulled Aelita to her feet. "We need you now."

Aelita nodded and ran into the tower.

"Jeremy," Odd said, staring at his next opponent, a megatank. "Please tell me there's good news."

Aelita reached the top of the tower and placed her hand on the interface screen.

Odd wasn't the only one in trouble. A creeper had found Ulrich's hiding place. Ulrich held as still as he could, hoping that it wouldn't notice him. It did.

Aelita. Code: LYOKO.

Everything stopped. Ulrich and Odd let out sighs of relief.

"She made it," breathed Odd.

"Tower deactivated," Aelita said.

"You guys better hang on," said Jeremy. "I don't know how this is going to work."

"What's going to work, Einstein?" Odd nervously asked.

"This," replied Jeremy, hitting the enter key on his keyboard. "Monster destruction."

Every monster that was frozen or was beginning to move turned red and exploded. Everyone turned their faces away as the monsters were destroyed.

"What was that?" asked Yumi.

"A little something I've been working on," said Jeremy. "It's a virus that infects monsters, but I can only use it when Aelita deactivates a tower. It works on the same principle as the marabunta."

"Uh, wasn't that the computer program that almost wiped all of us out?" asked Yumi.

"It took some tweaking," Jeremy defended. "I'm sure I have it figured out now."

"Let's use it as a last resort," Ulrich's tired voice said.

"Did we win?" a weary voice sounded behind Odd. Kayla was taking staggering steps, bracing herself against the wall of a building.

"You bet, sunshine," Odd replied cheerfully.

"Oh, good." Kayla passed out on the pavement right then and there.

"Jeremy, I think we need to get out of here," Yumi said.

"Hold on," said Jeremy. "Aelita's sending me the location information."

Odd called up his board and pulled Kayla onto it. It was going to be difficult to ride with her passed out. Odd sat down on his board and pulled her onto his lap.

"Okay, I found it," said Jeremy. "I'm relaying the information to your vehicles. They'll take you through the castle and to the tower. All you have to do is hang on."

Yumi helped Ulrich on the over-wing. "Are you hurt?"

"No, just tired," replied Ulrich, leaning on her.

Their vehicles took them the most direct route to the cellar of the castle.

"Eva, the others are on their way," Jeremy said. "You're going to take that tower to the next location."

"Understood," said Eva.

A few moments later, the others arrived with a few Creatures on their tails. They went into the tower and took the data stream to the next location.

"Stop right there, human!" roared Chaor.

Eva, the only human there, turned to face Chaor. She saw him flinch, a little surprised by her appearance. Eva continued on her way, entering the tower.


	8. Chapter 8

"What in the name of Chaotic and Perim happened here?" Kaz said to no one in particular when he arrived in UnderWorld City.

The place was a mess. It looked like there had been a great battle. Buildings were destroyed and the streets were torn up.

The first place Kaz went was H'earing's. If anyone knew what was going on, the little UnderWorlder would. Kaz knocked on the door of the miniature house.

"H'earing, are you home?" he called.

H'earing appeared in the upstairs window. "Kaz!"

"What happened here?" asked Kaz.

H'earing came outside and told Kaz about the monsters who invaded the city and the strange humans that fought them.

"Humans?" asked Kaz.

H'earing nodded. "I wouldn't lie to you, Kaz," he said. "I saw one boy move as fast as Ultadur."

"You're sure they were human?" Kaz asked.

"Yes!" cried H'earing.

"Huh," was all Kaz could say. "Where did they go after the fighting was over?"

"I saw two of them go in the direction of Chaor's Castle," said H'earing, pointing.

"Thanks, H'earing," said Kaz, transporting to the castle.

Kaz figured that Chaor would be in the meeting hall. He followed the secret passages to the meeting hall, cracking the door so he could hear what was going on.

"This is ludicrous!" Kaz heard Agitos say. Immediately after he heard him groan.

"Sit down, Agitos," Takinom said.

"I'm fine!" Agitos snapped. This time he winced. "Maybe I should sit."

"Chaor? What is it?" Takinom's voice was thick with concern and it made Kaz wonder what happened to his favorite Creature.

Kaz heard a chair scrape the floor.

"If humans are capable of such power, what else are they capable of?" Chaor rumbled.

"You don't think they will try to take over, do you?" asked Takinom.

"I knew that boy was up to no good!" Agitos snarled.

Kaz heard something smash against the wall, probably a water pitcher.

"Kaz would not do such a thing," growled Chaor.

Kaz forced a lump down in his throat. They thought the humans were going to try to take over the UnderWorld?

A chair scraped the floor again and Chaor flopped into the chair, groaning in pain.

"We need to all calm down for a moment," said Takinom. "We're still feeling the aftereffects of that human's attack. I don't know about you, but I am having enough trouble breathing without shouting."

There was a brief moment of silence.

"The humans control the monsters," Agitos said. "If they bring more, we will be annihilated. We were lucky that we survived."

"Luck had nothing to do with it," said Chaor.

There was a knock on the door.

"Forgive my intrusion, Lord Chaor."

"What is it, Rothar?" Chaor asked.

"I wanted to tell you that one of those humans saved my life," said Rothar. "They fought the monsters as if they were the enemy, not us Creatures."

"I noticed as well," said Chaor.

"What?" his two advisers cried.

"Only the human who attacked us wanted to overthrow us," said Chaor. "Another came and fought to protect us. It was the one who entered that tower when we went to confront them."

"How do you know?" asked Takinom. "None of us could see what was happening in the throne room."

"The voice matched what I thought that human should look like," said Chaor. "Determined, defiant, although I was surprised to see she was a female."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Takinom asked darkly.

Kaz covered his mouth to keep from laughing. Chaor walked into that one.

"I thought the voice sounded like a male's," Chaor replied cooly.

"I counted four humans and the one you saw outside the tower makes five, six if you include the one who attacked us," Agitos said.

Rothar shook his head. "There were more than that," he said. "I could hear their conversations. They wore their scanners on their wrists. I saw two and I know that there were two others fighting on the other side of the city. I heard two other names mentioned and the voice on the other end of their communicators, keeping the others informed of what was happening. That's seven."

"Number seven must still be on Earth," Kaz whispered to himself. "Six to fight, one to look out for them."

Kaz closed the door the whole way and 'ported back to Chaotic.

* * *

"You're telling me humans kicked monster butt?" cried Peyton.

"I heard it from Chaor himself," said Kaz.

"And I thought I was crazy just going to one of those towers," said Tom. "I got shot just by coming in range of seeing the tower. These guys go out there and fight those things?"

"Hey," said Kaz, looking around the Snack Court. "Where's Sarah?"

"Somewhere in Mount Pillar," said Tom.

"She said Wamma had something for her," Peyton said, shoving a slice of pizza into his mouth. "She left about ten minutes before you came back from Perim."

"Oh, man," groaned Kaz. "She shouldn't be there with that tower in the reservoir."

"I told her the same thing," said Tom. He rubbed his arm. "I almost can still feel the sting of that monster's attack."

"You know, if there are superhero humans fighting for Perim, shouldn't we inform the other tribes?" Peyton said. "We wouldn't want them attacking the wrong side."

"Except we don't know who these humans are," said Kaz. "I never got any specifics from Chaor."

"Whoever they are, they should get a medal," said Peyton.

"Well, we know one of them is a girl," said Tom.

"Chaor thought she was a guy at first," said Kaz with a chuckle. "I thought it was going to turn into a battle of the sexes when Chaor mentioned so. Takinom sounded like she was going to have a fit."

"We should give Sarah a heads-up," said Tom, pulling out his scanner.

"Hey, guys," Sarah whispered. "I can't talk right now. I'm in a bit of tight spot at the moment. Can you call me back?"

"Sure, it can wait until you get back," said Tom. "Be careful, Sarah."

"No problem," said Sarah and hung up her scanner.

"I wonder what she's up to," said Tom.


	9. Chapter 9

Kayla was sore to say the least. She hit the ground harder than she thought. Moaning, she opened her eyes to see that she was in a tower, Eva's sweatshirt laying over her.

"How are you feeling?" Eva asked.

"I'll be okay," said Kayla.

The others were sleeping except for Aelita, who was busy helping Jeremy find the next activated tower.

"How long was I out?" asked Kayla.

"Not long," replied Eva.

Kayla looked around. "How come you and Aelita aren't sleeping?"

"Aelita's helping Jeremy," answered Eva. "And I'm not tired."

"Liar."

Eva narrowed her eyes. Kayla always knew when she was lying about something, especially when it came to her sleeping habits.

Kayla sat up. "You're sore, aren't you?"

Eva nodded. "I'm trying to stay off the painkillers until we are sure that it's quiet enough so I can get some sleep."

Movement in the center of the tower caught their attention. Aelita had turned off the interface screen and stood up to stretch her legs.

"We have our next target," she said. "It's a place called Mount Pillar."

"The home of the Danians," said Eva.

"Aren't they security freaks?" asked Kayla.

"They're basically ants," said Eva. "They are big time security freaks."

"That doesn't sound good," said Odd. They turned to see that he was resting his head on his hands. "So where in Mount Pillar is the tower?"

"In the middle of their reservoir," answered Aelita. "It's located under the mountain itself."

By now everyone else was awake.

"How do we get there?" asked Yumi.

"It won't be easy," said Aelita. "XANA has monsters stationed everywhere. I think it plans to take out the Danian queen."

"That means we need a really good plan," said Ulrich.

They turned to Eva. "What?" she asked.

"You're good at planning," said Yumi. "What do you think?"

"Me?" asked Eva.

"Don't be modest," said Odd. "You conned your way into Kadic."

"And you didn't survive this long with just sheer dumb luck," said Kayla.

Eva looked at them skeptically and then sighed. "Okay," she said. "Do we have a map of this place?"

"More or less," said Aelita. "Jeremy found enough information in this tower to make a rough map."

"If XANA plans to hit the queen, we need to be ready for a countermove," said Eva. "If we go for the tower, XANA takes the queen. If we take the queen, XANA's dirty work is done by the Danians. Our best option is to split into two teams. Aelita's team will go to the tower and the other team will go defend the queen."

"Odd and I will go with Aelita," said Ulrich.

"Eva, you lead Yumi and Kayla," said Aelita. "The three of you should be fine. The Danians won't expect much from three human girls."

Eva turned to Yumi. "Do you have a problem with me leading?"

"Why would I?" asked Yumi.

"Kayla and I are rookies compared to you," Eva explained. "Being a senior warrior, I thought you may have objections."

Yumi shook her head. "You kept yourself and others alive this far. I have no problem with you leading."

"Okay," said Eva. "Let's do this."

* * *

Sarah was waiting for Wamma. He said that he had something for her. She wondered if it was that new battle gear she had been meaning to scan.

But she was getting nervous. Ever since that weird tower showed up in the middle of the reservoir security had been increased. The last thing Sarah wanted to do was get caught. Instead of chasing her around Mount Pillar or threatening her with extreme torture, they would probably kill her on the spot, no warning.

There was a strange sound coming down the tunnel she was in. It sounded like a machine, not a Danian.

Sarah looked around the corner and saw a block shaped creatures with spindly legs coming down the tunnel. Gasping, Sarah ran for the closest tunnel. If a Mandablor did see her, it would alert others and she could lead them back to the monsters.

Sarah didn't get far before something shoved her into an alcove. There wasn't anything perceptible to the human eye, but she could feel the weight of someone else pressing against her.

"Quiet!" commanded a raspy voice.

Sarah did as she was told. A moment later she heard a saw blade followed by several small explosions. Around the corner came a Japanese girl in a red and mauve body suit.

"You okay?" she asked.

"We're fine," replied the disembodied voice. A butch-looking girl in a black and navy blue body suit appeared. She turned to Sarah. Sarah gasped at her face: white with black makeup. She looked like the living dead! "Where's Kayla?"

"I'm here," replied a blonde in a gold and silver body suit, holding a baton.

The living dead girl turned back to Sarah. "So much for staying out of sight."

"What's going on?" asked Sarah.

"There's too much to explain," said the living dead girl. "You best get out of here. Things are about to get crazy."

"Who are you?" asked Sarah.

The three girls exchanged looks. The living dead girl answered, "I'm Eva. This is Yumi and Kayla. And you are?"

"My name's Sarah. Why are you here?"

"Trying to save Queen Illexia," replied Eva.

"What?" cried Sarah. "She's in danger?"

Yumi nodded. "Something plans to destroy her so it can take over this part of Perim."

"The Danians would never allow it," said Sarah. "They would stop the threat."

"That's where you're wrong," said Eva.

"This thing can easily take out a group of Creatures," said Kayla. "It feels nothing. It will do anything to get what it wants. And it wants Perim."

"It's you!" Sarah realized. She turned to Eva. "You're the one Chaor was talking about. The one who saved UnderWorld City."

"I saved Chaor from William," said Eva. "Our friend saved UnderWorld City."

"So where is your friend?" asked Sarah.

"Saving the Danians," replied Yumi. "We were forced to split up. Our job is to protect the queen."

"I can take you up there," said Sarah. "I know where the queen's chamber is."

"Lead," commanded Eva.

Sarah began leading the three strange girls to the queen's chamber.

Kayla believed it was good fortune that they met someone who knew where they needed to go. She didn't say anything out loud because of Eva. She knew exactly what Eva would say: Don't say that, not until this is over.

Smiling faintly, Kayla kept up with the others.

"Do you think the others are all right?" Eva asked Yumi.

"We haven't heard anything from Jeremy so they must be fine," Yumi answered.

"I wonder how they are going to get to the tower," Kayla said.

Yumi giggled. "They have Aelita. You know how creative she can be."

Kayla giggled, remembering Aelita's special ability.

Sarah stopped. Eva put her hand on her shoulder and disappeared. She reappeared and motioned to them to keep moving.

"How are you able to do that?" asked Sarah.

Eva glanced at Sarah, but all Sarah saw was Eva's empty eyes. "Because we are LYOKO warriors. We are not your everyday humans."

Eva suddenly stopped. Kayla and Yumi knew what that meant. There was trouble up ahead.

"What?" Sarah said.

Kayla quickly clamped her hand over Sarah's mouth.

Yumi tapped Eva's shoulder. Eva nodded and Yumi pulled her fans. Kayla took her hand from Sarah's mouth and held her mace in her right hand.

They jumped out and began attacking the monsters that lurked around the corner.

"Let's go," said Eva.

Sarah dashed out and headed for the elevator that led to the queen's chamber. With help from Kayla, they forced the doors open. They stared at the shaft.

"Long way up," said Yumi.

"Long way down," said Kayla.

Eva jumped into the shaft, grabbing the rough sides. "This will be easy."

The four of the climbed up to the queen's chamber. Eva disappeared and began to search for monsters. She returned to give her report.

"There aren't any monsters, but there are Creatures guarding the queen," Eva told them.

"That's the Vollash," said Sarah. "They're the queen's personal bodyguards."

"I'll check in with Jeremy," said Yumi, adjusting her specter band. "Jeremy, do you read me?"

"Loud and clear, Yumi," came the reply.

"We're at the queen's chamber," said Yumi. "Where are the others?"

"Working on getting across the reservoir," answered Jeremy. "It seems to be easier than we thought."

"Don't jinx it, Jeremy," said Kayla.

"Whoops! Sorry, girls. I'll let you know if something happens."

"Thank, Jeremy," said Yumi.

There was a crash and shouting. Eva, Yumi, and Kayla jumped out from around the corner to see a group of kankerlots. The Vollash were all down. Eva made the first move, taking control of one of them. Then things began to get strange. The rest of the kankerlots began acting like they were possessed as well. They teetered this way and that, all with blue LYOKO symbols. Finally, Eva emerged from the kankerlot and they all exploded.

"Oh, whoa," Eva moaned, taking a seat on the floor. "Not smart."

"What happened?" asked Kayla.

"One too many to control," replied Eva, Kayla coming over to pull her to her feet. Eva's specter band vibrated. "Yeah?"

"I don't know what you just did, but I suggest you don't do it again," said Jeremy. "You just lost twenty life points."

"That explains why I feel like dirt," said Eva, shaking her head.

"Are you okay?" asked Kayla.

"I'm good," said Eva.

"Kayla, Yumi, you better take the monsters from this point on," said Jeremy.

"What?" asked Eva. "I can fight."

"Not after what just happened," said Jeremy. "Hang back and protect the queen."

Eva growled, but conceded. "Fine."

Yumi put her hand on Eva's shoulder. "Don't worry. We can handle this."

Eva nodded and turned to Kayla. "You follow Yumi's orders," she told her friend.

"Yes, ma'am," Kayla said, saluting.

Yumi and Kayla left. Eva turned to Sarah. She was kneeling over to the Vollash.

"Will they be okay?" asked Eva.

"They're just stunned," said Sarah. "But the queen is unprotected. Can you protect her alone?"

Eva nodded. "I can handle it."

* * *

Aelita, Ulrich, and Odd were almost at the tower. They hadn't run into any trouble. Aelita had created a sheet of ice so they could cross easily.

"Do you think XANA doesn't know we're coming?" asked Odd. "It sure is quiet."

There was a thunk below them. They peered through the ice to see monsters below them. The three of them looked at each other and began to run faster.

One of the monsters crashed through the ice and began firing at them. Odd turned around and shot it. A second found the hole the first made. Odd fired and missed. The shark monster proceeded to shoot Odd, sending sliding across the ice.

Ulrich turned around, running backwards behind Aelita to shield her. "Pick up the pace, princess," he said, using his sabers to deflect the monster's attacks.

Aelita sensed his urgency when he called her "princess."

Odd managed to stop sliding on the ice and hurried back to help Ulrich.

* * *

Eva was silent, listening for anything out of the ordinary. Kayla and Yumi must have been doing well since she hadn't heard anything from them.

Sarah was moving behind her, trying to wake the Vollash. "They are out like lights," she said, sighing in frustration.

Eva said nothing.

"Did you hear me?" Sarah asked.

"I heard you," said Eva. "Now be quiet. I'm trying to listen."

"For what?" asked Sarah.

A monster's attack slammed into Eva's shoulder and sent her tumbling. Eva jumped to her feet and fired a power pulse back at the tarantula that attacked her. She only managed to knock a leg out from under it. Another blast sent Eva into the wall, devirtualizing her.

"Eva!" cried Sarah.

The tarantula turned to her. Sarah backed away, too afraid to scream.

A powerful wind attack slammed into the tarantula. It turned around to see Wamma holding his cyclance.

"Sarah, what is that thing?" he asked.

"I don't know!" Sarah yelled.

Something dark jumped onto the tarantula's head. It bucked, slamming the dark form into the ceiling. The dark form hung on. There was a flash of something metallic and the form plunged it into the LYOKO symbol on its head. The dark form let go, falling hard on the floor before the tarantula exploded.

Sarah and Wamma slowly approached the fallen dark form. It stirred and stood up, groaning.

"Eva?" Sarah asked uncertainly.

Under the sweatshirt hood was Eva's real face: dark eyes filled with pain and sweat poured from her brow, her breath coming in quick gasps. She held her right arm as she got up and walked to the wall. With a sudden jerk, Eva slammed her right shoulder into the wall. There was a crunch and she flexed her hand.

Eva pushed her sleeve up to reveal her specter band. "Jeremy, I'm down."

"Sit tight," said Jeremy. "Aelita's almost at the tower."

Eva nodded and pulled her sleeve down.

* * *

Aelita was busy skating on the ice, avoiding attacks from the increasing horde of monsters. Odd and Ulrich couldn't get any traction to attack or defend.

"This is insane," said Ulrich.

"I hope the girls are having better luck than we are," said Odd.

"Bad news, guys," said Jeremy. "Eva's down and Kayla and Yumi are fighting to keep the monsters from the queen."

"Oh, great," said Ulrich. "We're Perim's last hope. That's comforting."

"Look on the bright side," said Odd, slipping and sliding toward one of the monsters' mouths. He fired a laser arrow and hit his mark. "We're close to the tower."

Just then, Aelita screamed. A monster had broken through the ice between her and the tower. Aelita hit it with an energy field and destroyed it. Now Aelita had a bigger problem. There was gap in the ice. She carefully stepped back, judging the distance and her strength. With four steps and good leap, she jumped over the gap, slipping and sliding into the tower.

"I'm in the tower," she told Jeremy.

"Hurry up," said Jeremy. "Kayla and Yumi can't hold on much longer."

Meanwhile, Kayla took a shot from a block in the leg and Yumi was hit by one's fire rings. They looked up to see the final attack that would devirtualize them, but it did not come. Instead the monsters glowed red and exploded.

Yumi and Kayla sighed and looked at each other. They began to giggle and laugh with relief.

"Good timing, Aelita," said Yumi into her specter band.

Kayla got to her feet. "Let's see how Eva's doing," she said.

Eva was sitting on the floor waiting for the others to find her. Kayla saw that something was wrong immediately.

"Eva, you're hurt," said Kayla, kneeling next to her friend.

"I'm fine," said Eva, waving Kayla away.

Yumi looked at Wamma, who Kayla failed to notice, and then to Sarah.

"It's okay," said Sarah. "He's a friend."

Kayla continued to worry over Eva. "You dislocated your arm," she said, seeing the pain on Eva's face.

"I already relocated it," said Eva.

Eva got to her feet and retrieved the weapon she used to kill the tarantula: a hunting knife that she kept concealed under her shirt. Kayla kept close to Eva, watching her every move to see if she was truly all right.

The Vollash began to wake.

"We better leave," said Eva.

"Yeah," said Yumi. "Let's go. The others are probably already waiting for us."

"Thank you, Sarah," said Kayla.

"No problem," chirped Sarah.

The three of them ran down the stairs. Eva was surprisingly quick for someone who had just been slammed into a ceiling by a tarantula. Yumi wondered if Eva had only suffered minor injuries or if she was ignoring the pain so she didn't worry them.

They met Aelita and the boys at the reservoir.

"We were starting to wonder if we would need to come after you," said Aelita.

Ulrich looked at Eva. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," replied Eva. "Let's go before the Danians try to kill us."

The six of them entered and moved on to the next tower.


	10. Chapter 10

Sarah transported back to Chaotic as soon as the girls left. She found Tom, Kaz, and Peyton sitting at their usual table.

"You guys! I met them!" Sarah cried, running up to the table.

"Met who?" asked Tom.

"The ones in UnderWorld city! The humans!" Sarah sat down and began telling them what had happened at Mount Pillar.

"Sounds intense," said Kaz.

"You want intense?" asked Sarah. "The one girl, Eva, jumped onto the back of one of those monsters without using her powers. This thing bucked worse than an enraged bull. It slammed her into the ceiling and she still managed to destroy it. Eva jumped off before it exploded and when she got up, she walked over to the wall and relocated her dislocated shoulder, with barely a flinch. Kaz, I am one hundred percent sure that Eva was the human that Chaor saw."

"It sounds like this Eva is the one calling all the shots," said Tom.

Sarah shook her head. "I doubt it. I think she was just the group leader. There's someone else in charge."

"I think we should head to the towers they haven't visited yet," said Tom.

"Are you crazy?" asked Kaz. "We'll be killed!"

"Only if we get caught," Tom said with a sly smile. "If we stay out of sight, no one will know we're there."

"I don't like where this is going," said Kaz. "Chaor couldn't stand up to them. What makes you think we will if there's trouble."

"We have something Chaor doesn't have," said Tom, holding up his scanner.

"Tom's right," said Sarah. "If there's trouble, we can 'port out."

"So where to?" asked Peyton. "There's only a handful of towers they haven't reached yet."

"The River Lands," said Tom. "I've been there already. There's a lot of activity."

"Let's go!" said Peyton, jumping up.

Kaz sighed. "For the record, I think this is a bad idea." But he got up and followed his friends anyway.

* * *

The six LYOKO warriors were resting in a tower. Eva was laying on her left side, using her sweatshirt as a pillow. There was a bruise beginning to form on her back.

Kayla pulled Eva's shirt collar back and shook her head. "You need to rest," she said.

"I'm fine," said Eva.

"No, you're not," said Kayla. "From the looks of things, you hit that ceiling hard. It's a miracle that you're alive. And moving for that matter."

"You rest, Eva," said Aelita. "We can take the next tower without you."

Eva glanced at Aelita. "Where is the next tower?"

"Ravanaugh Ridge," replied Aelita.

Eva hummed. "It is a very rocky terrain," she said. "Agility is needed." Eva turned to Kayla. "Can you handle it?"

Kayla nodded. "Believe it or not, I'm not all muscle out there."

"Never said you were," said Eva.

"Someone should stay with you," said Ulrich.

"I'm a big girl, Stern," said Eva.

Odd laughed. "Just like your name suggests, Maverick, you are a rebel."

"And fighting with your injuries is not a good idea," said Kayla. "Not to mention it's something you would do. Someone needs to stay here and look out for you."

"Oh, come on," muttered Eva.

"It's what family does," said Yumi. "We look out for each other."

That shut Eva up. She sighed and closed her eyes. "So be it."

"Ulrich, how about you stay here?" said Kayla. "Like Eva said, the terrain is rocky. You'll be limited to your super sprints to keep up with us."

They moved out, leaving Eva and Ulrich alone. Eva snoozed, but soon woke because of Ulrich's presence. She sat up. Ulrich was watching her.

"Are you okay?" asked Ulrich.

"I'm fine, just sore," replied Eva. "I could have gone with them and I would have been fine."

"Kayla doesn't think that," said Ulrich.

"Kayla isn't me," Eva shot back.

Ulrich looked at Eva's shirt collar. There was a silver chain peeking from around her neck. "What's that?" he asked, pointing to the chain.

Eva tugged on it. "My heart," she replied. Eva pulled her locket from under her shirt.

Ulrich crawled over to her side to see what was inside. Eva opened the locket. Inside was a picture of Mackenzie and Eva. It had been taken at a zoo. There was an elephant behind them. Mackenzie looked happy, healthy.

"When was this taken?" Ulrich asked.

"Before we found out," replied Eva in a low voice.

Ulrich looked at Eva. Though her hair hung in her face, he could see she was on the verge of tears.

"She liked elephants?" asked Ulrich.

"We both did," replied Eva. She ran her thumb over the picture. "She wanted to see one so bad. That day, we snuck out of the house. I took some money from my mother's purse so we could pay to get in. We kept close to other families so we wouldn't raise suspicion. Mackenzie didn't care if we got caught, she just wanted to see an elephant. I got a zookeeper to take this picture. I bought her a stuffed elephant at the gift shop. My parents didn't know we were gone until they saw Mackenzie's stuffed elephant."

"What happened when they found out?" asked Ulrich, fearing that he knew the answer.

"They took her stuffed elephant from her," answered Eva. She touched the scar at her hairline. "That's how I got this. I fought to get the toy back, but my father slammed my head into the kitchen counter. Boy, did that ever hurt. They threw the stuffed elephant out after that. That night, I was in so much pain. Mackenzie crawled into bed with me. I told her I was sorry that I couldn't get her elephant back. She said it was okay and that I was her elephant. Did you know that elephants don't forget anything?"

"No, I didn't know that," said Ulrich.

Eva smiled faintly. "She would always call me Eva-phant. Anyway, that night I went through the trash for her toy. I cleaned it up the best I could and gave it back. She was so happy. She kept it out of sight when they were home."

"You had to do everything for her, didn't you?" asked Ulrich. "You have to feed and clothe her."

Eva nodded. "Since the time I was eight. It was hard at first, but once I started figuring out how to get money it became a lot easier."

Ulrich figured he knew what that meant. Eva probably had to steal just to stay alive.

"You are a good sister, Eva," Ulrich said.

"Thanks," said Eva. She tucked her locket away.

"When you look at Aelita, do you see Mackenzie?" Ulrich asked.

Eva nodded. "She's so innocent," she murmured.

"You know, Aelita can take care of herself," said Ulrich. "We all can. So don't push yourself so hard."

Eva laid down on her sweatshirt and went back to sleep.

When she woke again, they were back.

"We're fine," said Kayla. "There wasn't any need to worry."

Eva nodded and slipped her sweatshirt on. She got to her feet and stretched. Her shoulder was fine and the bruises she had were hardly noticeable.

"Where is the next tower?" asked Ulrich.

"The River Lands," answered Aelita, checking the interface screen.

"Sounds peaceful enough," said Kayla.

Yumi scoffed. "Not when XANA's through with it."

"How's your shoulder?" asked Odd.

Eva swung her arm. "It's fine," she said.

"Then what are we waiting for?" asked Odd. "Let's go!"

Eva nodded and powered up.

* * *

Tom was the first to notice some activity that night. The four friends had found a hiding place that gave them a somewhat decent view of the tower while staying out of the monsters' sights. Unfortunately, they fell asleep. It was only when there was a loud whoop that Tom woke up.

"Hey, guys!" he said, giving Kaz a not so gentle shove.

"What?" mumbled Kaz, sitting up, his glasses askew.

There was an explosion that made them wide awake. Peyton and Sarah sat up and began looking around for the source of the explosion. Something silver was zooming around the tower. They pulled out their scanners and magnified what they were looking at.

"That's Yumi," said Sarah.

That's all they could see, because Yumi turned her vehicle and went to the other side of the tower.

"That's where all the action must be happening," said Peyton.

"Let's check it out," said Tom.

The four of them repositioned themselves while avoiding detection and the stray laser blasts. From their new position, they could see a boy dressed in yellow and brown holding a sword in each hand. He was blocking laser blasts with his blades.

"Who is that?" Tom asked.

"I don't know," said Sarah. "I've never seen him before."

"Geronimo!"

A boy dressed in purple with a tail plummeted to the ground. At the last second a board swooped down under his feet and carried him off.

"And him?" asked Kaz.

"Not a clue," said Sarah.

A girl dressed in gold swung her morning star and destroyed a monster.

"That's Kayla!" said Sarah.

Kayla shouted, "Aelita, go!"

A girl in pink ran up to the tower and entered. A moment later, the rest of the monsters suddenly exploded. The other warriors entered the tower.

"What do you think they are doing in there?" asked Kaz.

"Let's find out," said Peyton, jumping up and running to the tower.

"Peyton, wait!" called Tom.

Peyton ran straight into the tower and fell on his back.

"Are you okay?" asked Sarah.

"Looks like the only ones who get in are those guys," groaned Peyton.

Kaz looked at the tower. "I think this is how they get from place to place," he said. "They don't have scanners like we do. The towers must act as transport disks."

"So where do you think they went?" asked Peyton.

Sarah shook her head. "The next tower, maybe. I don't know about you, but I'm going home. I'm tired."

"Same here, dudes," yawned Peyton.

"I'll see you tomorrow," said Kaz.

"Okay," said Tom.

They 'ported back to Chaotic.


	11. Chapter 11

The next stop for the LYOKO warriors was the Maelstrom Lands. As soon as they stepped out of the way tower, they saw how difficult it was going to be.

"Aw, man," said Odd when he saw the lightning streak across the horizon. "So much for our vehicles."

"How far do we have to go, Jeremy?" asked Yumi.

"About a mile," said Jeremy. "It's a good thing this tower is close by."

"Close by? Are you kidding me?" asked Kayla. "I'm getting soaked."

"We all are," said Eva. "Let's get a move on. The sooner we deactivate this tower, the sooner we'll be able to dry off."

The six of them began to run in the direction of the tower. They did not meet any monsters along the way.

"XANA must be losing monsters left and right in this weather," said Ulrich.

"Looks like Mother Nature's doing all of the hard work," said Odd.

The only thing out of the ordinary when they reached the tower was there were no monsters.

"Let's get this over with," said Eva.

"Look!" cried Yumi.

The tower deactivated itself, turning from red to blue.

"That's strange," said Aelita. "Why would XANA deactivate a tower?"

"Maybe the weather is messing with the connection," said Kayla.

The six of them went flying in different directions. The first back on their feet was Eva. She searched for the cause of the attack and saw William and the Scyphozoa. They were standing over Aelita. William picked Aelita up and turned to her.

"No!" Eva growled, jumping up and charging William.

The three of them pixilated and began to disappear. Eva managed to catch the Scyphozoa by a tentacle and the four of them vanished.

"Aelita! Eva!" cried Yumi.

"They're gone!" said Kayla.

"Jeremy, where did they go?" demanded Ulrich.

"I have no idea!" Jeremy said frantically. "I don't see any of them on my screen. And if the Scyphozoa has Aelita, it's game over for all of us."

* * *

The four of them appeared in a city. Eva wasn't too concerned where they were at the moment, only that she had to get Aelita away from the Scyphozoa.

A sudden kick to the stomach ripped the Scyphozoa's tentacle from her grasp and sent her flying down a street. William stalked up to her with his sword in hand.

"You are a real thorn in my side," he growled.

Eva fought to get to her feet, but could only manage to crawl backwards and hope that she could dodge William's next attack. William grabbed her and hurled her farther down the street. Eva slammed into the pavement.

"You tried to save her," said William. "Sweetheart, you couldn't even save yourself." He placed his foot on Eva's chest and began pressing all of his weight on it.

Eva forced herself to create a power pulse attack. It was not a powerful enough blast to get rid of William, but it got him off of her. William tumbled back and received a vicious kick to his knee. He roared in pain and turned to smoke. Before Eva could react, he had her by the hair and threw her to the ground. This was enough to devirtualize Eva.

William grabbed her by the hair again and pulled her to her feet.

"A nothing like you could never take my place," he said.

Eva could only watch as William drew his fist back. She braced herself for the impact.

And then there was nothing.

* * *

William let Eva fall to the ground. He was about to finish her off when he heard the Scyphozoa scream. He turned to see a Creature attacking it. A devirtualized Aelita was on the pavement, unconscious. William raced to help the Scyphozoa only to be turned to black smoke and sent back to XANA. The Scyphozoa retreated into the shadows and disappeared.

The Creature scooped up Aelita. "Poor human," he said. He turned and carried Aelita away.

* * *

Eva woke with the left side of her face stinging. She got to her feet and looked around. She was in a city with white buildings. In the distance there was a castle.

"Kiru City," she muttered.

Eva reached down and called Jeremy on her specter band.

"Eva, are you okay?" Jeremy asked.

"I'll be fine, but I don't know where Aelita is," said Eva. "William knocked me out. I'm sorry I couldn't protect her."

"Don't say that," said Jeremy. "I can't get a location, but I'm sure Aelita is okay."

"Same here," said Eva. "I don't have that sick feeling that tells you someone you know has died. Is there a tower nearby?"

"No," said Jeremy.

Eva growled. "I need supplies."

"Like what?" asked Jeremy.

"I need the ace bandages and the baseball cap I keep in my bag," said Eva.

"Is that it?" asked Jeremy.

"Yeah," answered Eva.

There was a moment of silence.

"I think I can send those things to your current location," said Jeremy. "Neither item is very big, so I'm sure I can get them to you."

"Good," said Eva. "By the way, how are the others?"

"A little rattled, but no one's hurt," answered Jeremy. "Give me a moment and I'll have you things sent to you."

Minutes passed before Jeremy came back on the line. "Okay, I'm transferring them to you right now."

Eva heard something soft hit the ground. It was her baseball cap and her ace bandages.

"Thanks, Jeremy," she said. "Don't call me. I'll call you."

"Got it," said Jeremy.

Eva turned off her specter band and picked up her things. It would soon be dawn so she would have to work quickly.

She went to a dark alley and removed her shirts. Eva wound the ace bandages around her chest to flatten it. She put her undershirt back on and used her shadow to look at her profile. Eva was lacking in the feminine features department so it was easy to disguise herself as a boy. She put her shirts back on and put on the black baseball cap. She hadn't seen any human boys around, but it was becoming increasingly popular to have boys to have long hair. Eva hoped that the trend was the same here. She took a pair of leather fingerless gloves from her jeans pocket and slipped them on so they covered her wrists.

Now to find Aelita.

* * *

It was early morning when Gespedan peeked in on his houseguest. The human girl with pink hair was still asleep. Whatever that monster did to her must have drained almost all of her energy. She hadn't even twitched when he removed her shoes and socks and put her to bed.

His attention turned to her shoes, which were sitting at the foot of the bed. How could humans stand to wear them? It made Gespedan's feet hurt just by looking at them. The thought of confining his feet made his skin crawl. He had noticed that the few humans he saw all wore shoes of some sort. He also noticed that the girl's feet were soft, not hard and calloused like his own.

Gespedan also thought of something else. She would most likely be hungry when she woke up. What did humans eat?

The girl turned over and gripped the pillow with one tiny hand, curling up in a tight ball. Gespedan smiled. Humans: so weak, yet so strong at the same time.

Gespedan went to the linen closet and took out a thick blanket. She may have been cold. He returned to the bedroom and carefully spread the blanket over her. He was tucking the blanket around her legs when she gave a startled cry and sat up. Gespedan jumped and took a few steps back from the bed to give her some space.

The human girl looked at Gespedan and let her green eyes dart around the room before turning back to him.

"It's all right," said Gespedan quickly. "I won't hurt you."

"I know," replied the girl. "You're Gespedan, right?"

"How did you know?" he asked. Then he shook his head. "I forget, you humans know all about us Creatures, more than us Creatures know about humans. You know me, but I don't know you."

"My name's Aelita."

"Aelita," repeated Gespedan. "That's a pretty name. I'm sorry, Aelita, I tried to find your scanner, but I didn't see it anywhere."

Gespedan noticed the slight confusion in Aelita's eyes.

"It's fine," she said. "It'll turn up eventually."

Aelita got out of bed and pulled her shoes and socks on.

"I'll help you look for it," said Gespedan.

"I can go myself," said Aelita.

Gespedan shook his head. "The Creatures of Kiru City are only just accepting humans in the daytime. Your kind usually comes at night and leave. Some Creatures aren't as kind as I am."

"It's okay," insisted Aelita. "I can look after myself. I won't get into trouble."

"All right," said Gespedan.

"Thank you for helping me," Aelita said and she left.

Aelita wasn't sure what exactly happened last night, but she knew it wasn't good. Hopefully the Scyphozoa hadn't gotten what it was after. If it had, she would probably be dead. And what happened to William? Gespedan probably dealt with both of them. Creatures were tough.

Aelita ducked into the shadows of an alley and called Jeremy.

"Aelita, you're okay," Jeremy said. "Thank goodness!"

"A Creature saved me," Aelita explained.

"Listen, Eva followed you guys," said Jeremy. "She's somewhere in Kiru City."

"I'll call her and . . . "

Jeremy cut her off. "She said she would call us."

"But Kiru City's huge!" Aelita argued. "She won't know where to find me."

"I think she has a good idea," said Jeremy. "The others are on their way. They should be there by this afternoon."

"Okay," said Aelita.

Aelita wandered the side streets and back alleys to avoid attention. She figured that's what Eva would be doing as well.

"What's a human doing down here?"

Aelita whirled around to see three young Creatures approaching her. Her gut told her that this was not going to be good.

"Just passing through," Aelita said, moving to a busy street.

A Creature grabbed her arm. "Now wait a moment, girlie," he said. "You came this way, you wanted something."

"Please, let go," said Aelita.

"Why should I?" he asked. "What's a human going to do?"

His friends snickered.

Aelita had half a mind to use her specter band and give this guy a face full of her energy field attack.

"I would do as she says," said a voice.

They all turned to see a dark figure standing in the shadow of a building.

"This doesn't concern you!" snapped the Creature who had Aelita by the arm.

"I'm making it my business!" shot back the dark figure.

"Aelita!"

Aelita heard Gespedan's voice. "Here I am!" she cried.

Gespedan rounded the corner, seeing the Creatures and not the dark figure.

"And just what do you three think you're doing?" he asked.

"Just leaving!"

The three Creatures ran off.

Gespedan walked over to Aelita. "I thought you would get yourself into trouble, so I followed you. For a human, you are surprisingly quick."

Aelita glanced behind Gespedan and saw that the dark figure was gone.

"Come," said Gespedan, reaching for Aelita's hand. "Let's see if we can find something for you to eat."

"It's okay," said Aelita. "I'm not hungry."

"Still, you shouldn't be down these alleys, even in the daytime," said Gespedan.

Aelita followed Gespedan. Gespedan kept checking to see if Aelita was still beside him. Aelita found that Gespedan was walking faster and faster, forcing her to jog to keep up.

"Will you slow down?" she asked. "My legs aren't as long as yours."

"There's someone following us," said Gespedan. "Come on!"

Gespedan and Aelita turned down several busy streets and finally ducked into an empty alley. Gespedan kept an eye on the street so he could see who was following them. Aelita watched Gespedan, not thinking to watch her back.

A hand clamped over her mouth and pulled her against the person who was behind her.

"Shh."

The hand let go and Aelita spun around. She recognized the person immediately, but before she could cry out a name, the person put a finger to their lips. Aelita stared for a moment and understood.

"Must you scare me like that, Maverick?" she said with false anger.

"Sorry," Eva replied. "I thought you heard me coming."

Gespedan turned around. "So you were the one following us," he said.

"Looking out for my sister, that's all," Eva said without tilting her head up.

Aelita noticed something was wrong with Eva's face. With her hood up and ball cap pulled low, it was hard to see.

"Well, boy, you sure know how to take care of her!" he snapped. "I found her laying in the street being attacked by another Creature in the middle of the night. Where were you?"

"Sleeping," replied Eva. "She wasn't supposed to be in Perim to begin with. I only found out this morning that she was MIA." Eva turned to Aelita. "I guess you got yourself into trouble."

"I lost my scanner," Aelita said.

Eva sighed. "Great. Let's go find it. Thanks for looking out for her, Gespedan."

"Not a problem," said Gespedan.

"Come on, Aelita."

Aelita and Eva walked away. Aelita waited to say something until they were far from Gespedan.

"Why are you dressed up like a boy?" she asked.

"I found it's easier to get around a city like this if everyone thinks you're a boy," said Eva. "Besides, I saw the trouble you got into in that alley."

"Thanks for helping me," said Aelita.

"What's family for?" asked Eva. "Just looking out for my sister."

"Eva." Aelita stepped into Eva's path. "Oh! Eva."

The left side of Eva's face was completely purple, her eye almost swollen shut.

"It's nothing," said Eva. "I got that from William. You know, Gespedan saved my life, too last night. If it wasn't for him, William would have killed me."

"We both would have been killed," said Aelita. "Gespedan did not question me about my LYOKO form. Probably because I already had been devirtualized by the Scyphozoa."

"I need to check in with Jeremy," said Eva. "I have a bad feeling about this."

"Why is that?" asked Aelita.

"Last night, that tower in the Maelstrom Lands, that should have been the last tower," said Eva.

"What?" asked Aelita.

"I've been keeping track," said Eva. "That should have been the last tower. XANA shouldn't be able to send monsters or William. Yet last night it did just that."

"There's another tower," said Aelita.

Eva nodded. "Maybe the last. And XANA's not going to give it up without a fight."

Eva called Jeremy.

"I found Aelita," she reported.

"Is she okay?" asked Jeremy.

"She's fine," replied Eva. "Not a scratch on her."

"Why would XANA take Aelita away to have the Scyphozoa to attack her?" asked Jeremy.

"Because of Kayla," answered Eva. "She can switch places with Aelita if the Scyphozoa has its slimy tentacles around her. With Aelita out of range, the Scyphozoa can take all of the time it needs."

"Jeremy," Aelita said into her own specter band, "is there another activated tower nearby?"

Jeremy paused while he checked. "Yes, outside of the city," he replied.

Eva looked at Aelita.

"The last tower?" Aelita asked.

"Looks like it," said Jeremy. "Wait for the others before you try to deactivate it."

"We will, brother," said Eva, and clicked off her specter band.


	12. Chapter 12

Najarin was very troubled. Just as quickly as the monsters appeared, they disappeared. From what he heard, it was because of a band of humans with strange powers.

Feeling a pair of eyes on his back, Najarin said, "Are you going to stand and stare or are you going to ask something?"

There was a faint laugh. "I wasn't going to ask anything."

Najarin knew the voice. He turned around. Dressed in her famous purple and fuchsia outfit with her heart-shaped fuchsia eyepatch over her left eye, Yin stepped into the room.

"You look well," said Najarin.

"So do you," said Yin with a smile.

"Why are you here?" asked Najarin. "Coming for a simple social visit is not one of your mannerisms."

"Maj noticed something in her mirror," said Yin. "Something that concerns you."

"Those monsters," Najarin prompted.

Yin nodded. "They aren't part of this realm. That's why I am here."

"Those other humans seem to be handling things quite well," said Najarin.

"Yes," agreed Yin. "I had to give them a push in the right direction, but that one girl is brilliant. They all are in their own right, but this one." Yin smiled oddly. "She just reminds me of someone."

"How did this happen?" asked Najarin. "How were they able to cross into Perim?"

"It must have been when Von Bloot used the Inter-Realm Interlude," said Yin. "That's the only explanation I have. It weakened the barriers between the realms, allowing them to slip through."

"Do the others know?" asked Najarin.

Yin nodded. "Maj is searching for all the holes and sending other guards to seal them."

Najarin frowned. "Why aren't you helping her? Surely you could rid Perim of these monsters."

"I could," said Yin. She lowered her head. "But there's something else. There's something more to this whole mess than what it appears. I'll let these humans deal with the monsters, but I'm going to find out what is really going on."

Yin turned to the window. "You need to go to Kiru City," she said. "I would advise you to get there before dusk."

Najarin did not ask why. "Where are you going to go?" he asked.

Yin sighed. "To find some answers." She turned to the door and looked back over her shoulder. "You know how to find me."

* * *

It was late afternoon when the rest of the LYOKO warriors arrived in Kiru City. Aelita and Eva had found a quiet place to hang out on the city wall until they came. No Creature saw them arrive.

"Are you two okay?" asked Yumi.

"We're fine," said Aelita.

Kayla took one look at Eva and screamed. "Eva, what happened? You're not okay!" Kayla tilted Eva's head back to get a better look at her eye.

"It's fine," said Eva, waving Kayla's hand away.

"We saw the tower on our way in," said Odd. "It's not guarded. If it's the last tower, we can kick XANA's butt without any trouble."

Eva shook her head. "Something tells me the calm before the storm is here. Now we have to see if it's a rain shower or a hurricane."

"I think I can tell you with certainty that it's going to be a hurricane," said Ulrich.

"How's that?" asked Kayla.

Ulrich pointed to the horizon, at the monsters materializing in the distance.

"Oh, boy," said Odd. "XANA can never make things easy for us."

The alarm was quickly sounded by the OverWorlders. Soldiers began to take up positions on the wall.

"We gotta go," said Ulrich.

The six of them ran from the roof and hid in the city's library which was close to the center of the city.

"What are we doing here?" asked Ulrich. "We should be out there fighting."

"A tactical retreat," said Eva. "Let's wait. We want XANA to think it has a victory, right?"

"Yeah," said Odd.

"Then let's let it think it does," said Eva. "It'll also give us time to come up with a plan."

Ulrich called Jeremy. "Jeremy, how many monsters are there?"

"Too many to count," said Jeremy. "My screen's lit up like a Christmas tree. XANA's called out the reserves on this one."

"This is going to turn into UnderWorld City again," said Kayla.

"No," said Yumi. "They attacked in the middle of the night there. This time they came during the day. The OverWorlders weren't caught completely off-guard."

"I was thinking the same," said Eva.

"So what's the plan?" asked Odd.

"I'll go for the tower," said Aelita. "Kayla will back me up. Yumi, Ulrich, you two work the ground. Odd and Eva, there are bound to be flying mantas and hornets."

"We'll cover you, Kayla," said Odd. "Ready, break!"

The six of them powered up and ran outside. Aelita hopped on Kayla's glider with her and they took off with Odd and Eva flanking them. The sky was thick with monsters.

"This doesn't bode well," said Kayla.

"Eva, can you take control of one of the mantas?" Aelita asked.

"Yes, but what do you want me to do?" Eva asked.

Aelita explained. "Flying mantas can create flying mines. It'll take out their forces."

Eva flew ahead, disappearing from sight. She aimed for the closest manta and jumped from her board, connecting with the manta. The manta fought for a moment before Eva got control. She turned around and began to drop mines in the monster ranks.

Odd carefully aimed and shot a hornet, setting off a chain reaction. The explosions created a path for Kayla and Aelita to fly through.

"Nice shooting, Tex," said Kayla.

Meanwhile Yumi and Ulrich were taking out as many creepers and tarantulas as they could. The streets were packed with them, the soldiers finding them easy targets.

"This is insane," said Yumi. "How are we going to hold off all of these monsters?"

"Don't worry," said Ulrich. "You have me. We can do it together."

Yumi nodded.

Back in the skies, Eva was dropping more mines. Suddenly a monster shot her and the manta she was possessing was destroyed. Eva tumbled toward the ground. She slammed into something hard and was carried away.

"Need a lift?" asked Odd.

"What are you doing here?" asked Eva. "What about Kayla and Aelita?"

"They got it," said Odd. "Have some faith. You're the one in more trouble than they are."

Odd took Eva to her board and she hopped on. They swooped down and climbed into the air, combining attacks with quick retreats. The monsters had a hard time seeing Eva, but they could see Odd perfectly fine. He drew their fire while Eva got behind them and attacked or possessed.

Then the monsters began swarming something else. Powerful attacks cut through the air, taking out five to ten monsters at one shot.

"Is that?" Eva began to ask.

Odd knew who it was.

Najarin.

A hornet came up behind Najarin and began firing. Odd took off to help Najarin. He fired one laser arrow at the attacking monster and two over Najarin's shoulders to take out the two who were preparing to attack. Odd pulled up in front of Najarin.

"How's it going?" he asked.

Najarin just stared. "You?"

Odd looked up to see a manta taking aim. From above, a white power pulse attack slammed into the manta's weak point. Odd and Najarin looked up to see Eva's pale face staring down at them.

"Focus, Della Robbia!" Eva snapped. She twirled in the air to avoid being shot and took out a hornet. "You're not allowed to lose."

Odd laughed. "Neither are you, Maverick!"

The three of them went their separate ways.

Back on the ground, Ulrich was quickly taking out a group of blocks using his triplicate move. Suddenly one of the copies disappeared. Ulrich turned around in time to see William holding his sword over his head. Ulrich blocked, but was forced to the ground. He threw William off of him and tumbled away.

"You always thought you were such a hotshot," said Ulrich.

"So do you!"

Ulrich and William got into it. Ulrich was fast, but speed didn't count when you had such a large, heavy blade trying to cut you in half. Ulrich could only block and dodge, unable to get to William's weak points.

Finally a stroke of luck! William slammed his blade into the pavement and was unable to pull it free. Ulrich made his move and took out William.

"William's down!" he said into his specter band.

"Good," said Yumi. "One less thing I have to worry about."

Eva was not having any good luck. A hornet shot her board and destroyed it, sending Eva to the ground below. Luckily she wasn't up high enough to take her out of the fight. She got to her feet and fired a power pulse to take out the hornet.

"Take that," she said.

Gespedan was in the street, dodging various attacks. A block used its ice attack and froze Gespedan's feet in place. He tried to free himself, but to no avail.

A blast took out the blocks he was fighting.

"Hold still," said a voice from behind.

The ice around Gespedan's legs shattered and he was free. He turned to his rescuer to see it was a human girl. Or was it a boy?

"Thank you," he said. "But why did you help me?"

"You helped my sister. That's good enough for me."

"Maverick?" Gespedan said.

"Eva! Are you okay?" Odd's voice called from Eva's specter band.

"I'm fine," replied Eva. "Jeremy, are Kayla and Aelita close to the tower yet?"

"Actually . . . "

"I knew it," said Odd. "You're using your 'I hate to say it, but you bombed the exam' voice."

Eva growled.

"Chill, Eva," said Odd. "I'm sure they're fine."

* * *

If fine meant doing barrel rolls to avoid being hit and Kayla feeling like she never wanted to see food again, then they were fine. XANA had left some really tough hornets to stop Aelita from deactivating the tower.

"Kayla, can you stall them?" asked Aelita.

"Yeah," said Kayla.

"Okay, I'll go one way and you go the other," Aelita said, jumping from the cockpit.

"Whoa, what? Aelita!"

Aelita opened her wings and soared toward the tower.

* * *

Eva disappeared and hit as many monsters in one shot as she could. The monsters were smartening up though. Every time she disappeared, they would spray the area with fire. Eva already lost a lot of life points that way, but she still had twenty that she knew of.

"Don't get hit again," Eva told herself.

Eva took out a tarantula only to be hit by a creeper. She hit the ground hard, but quickly got to her feet and ran for cover.

"You okay?"

Eva turned to see a boy a little older than her. He had black hair, blue eyes, and was wearing a gray T-shirt, a long sleeved black shirt, and jeans.

"I'm fine," said Eva. "I'm Eva."

"Tom. Do you need some help?"

"No," said Eva. "Do you?"

"I need to get to my friend at the castle," said Tom. "I don't know how to get there without getting caught in a cross fire."

"Follow me," said Eva. "I think I know a way or two."

Eva led Tom through the back alleys, not going any faster than he could run. If she lost him, he could get hurt.

Tom cried out and fell on the ground. Eva whipped around to see a block. She pulled off her sweatshirt and held it in front of herself. Eva slowly moved toward the block, using the sweatshirt to keep its attention. When she was close enough, Eva tossed the sweatshirt over the block's eye. She drew her hunting knife and stabbed it through the sweatshirt and into the block itself.

"You okay?" she asked Tom.

"My leg," Tom gasped. "It really hurts."

Eva pulled up his pant leg and saw a laser burn and a nasty scrape that was bleeding a lot.

"Can't have you bleeding," said Eva, taking her other shirt off and ripping it up. She wound the makeshift bandages around Tom's leg. "A blood trail will lead them straight to us."

Tom looked at Eva. "Thank you," he said.

"You can thank me later," said Eva, picking up her ball cap and pulling Tom to his feet. "Let's go!"

As they ran, something in Tom's pocket began to ring. He fumbled for it and it fell.

"My scanner!" he yelled.

Eva turned around and picked it up. "Keep running!" she yelled.

Tom saw the monster behind her but couldn't warn Eva in time. Eva felt a searing pain in her back that caused her to yell in pain. She stumbled, but kept going, pushing Tom ahead of her.

Tom heard Eva grunt behind her. He wondered why she wouldn't leave him. She didn't know him and he didn't know her, so why was she doing this? She must have been nuts!

Eva!

Tom knew the name sounded familiar. This had to be the same Eva that Sarah met at Mount Pillar.

Eva cried out again and whipped around to face the monster.

"Is that the best you can do?" she shouted angrily.

Tom turned around. It was too dark to see and he was more focused on the monster, but Eva looked like she was taking a beating by lagging behind.

Eva turned around. "What are you staring at? Get moving!"

Tom didn't need to be told twice.

* * *

Aelita had a clear path to the tower. She looked over her shoulder to see Kayla had her hands full with the few hornets that were left.

"Sorry, Kayla," said Aelita.

Aelita landed in front of the tower and entered. She walked to the center and was lifted into the air. At the top she stood in front of the interface screen and placed her hand on the screen.

Aelita.

Code: LYOKO.

"Tower deactivated," Aelita said.

"Initiating monster destruction," said Jeremy.

Every monster that was still fighting was destroyed.

* * *

In the city there were questions and chattering going on.

"Did we win?"

"What happened?"

"Is it over?"

"Come on," Eva said to Tom, pulling him along. "You still need to find your friend, right?"

Tom and Eva went to the castle and found Maxxor and Intress examining each other's wounds. Other than a few scrapes and laser burns, both Creatures appeared fine.

"Tom," said Maxxor when he saw his human friend.

"Are you two okay?" asked Tom.

"We're fine," said Maxxor. "What happened to the monsters?"

"They're gone," said Eva. "For good, I hope."

Eva's specter band flashed pink. "Go ahead, Aelita."

"Good news," she chirped. "That was the last tower."

"Good," breathed Eva. "Is Kayla okay?"

"She's fine," replied Aelita.

"Okay, I'll see you soon," said Eva.

"Maverick!" shouted Odd, coming out of a steep dive. "You are even crazier than I am! I saw what you did back there. Trying to make the rest of us look bad, rookie?"

"Where are Yumi and Ulrich?" Eva asked.

"We're here," said Ulrich, dragging himself up the stairs of the castle with Yumi behind him.

"I'm glad that's over," said Yumi, sitting on a step.

"Kayla and Aelita should be flying in her any minute," said Odd, looking toward the tower.

A minute later, Kayla expertly parked the glider next to the stairs.

"That went better than I thought," said Kayla. "All those monsters and only one of us got taken down."

Najarin landed next to Odd. "You are certainly strange."

"Are you talking about all of us or just Odd?" asked Ulrich.

"Hey!" cried Odd.

"Thank you for your help," said Maxxor.

"No need to thank us," said Aelita. "It's our duty."

Odd's stomach growled loudly and everyone turned to look at him.

"What?" he said innocently. "All that fighting worked up an appetite."

"We can get something back at the tower," said Kayla.

Maxxor turned to the LYOKO warriors. "You are welcome to stay," he said. "I think all of us are hungry."

"Seriously?" asked Ulrich.

"Humans don't eat nearly as much as Creatures do," said Maxxor. "You may have all you can eat."

Odd's face lit up.

"Oh, no," groaned Yumi.

"What?" asked Tom.

"Maxxor said the magical phrase," said Ulrich. "All you can eat."

"Let's go inside," said Intress. "I see Tom's leg needs to be looked at. And your friend there seems to have a few injuries of his own."

"Her own," corrected Kayla absently. Intress looked at her inquisitively. "Eva's a girl."

Intress turned from Kayla to Eva. "I did not mean to offend."

"It's fine," said Kayla. "Eva's a cross-dresser. She's used to it."

They started inside, but Eva stayed where she was. Najarin noticed and called to her.

"Are you coming?" he asked.

Eva didn't respond.

Kayla turned around. "Eva? You okay?"

Now everyone was watching. Kayla walked over to her friend and called her name again.

"Eva, what's wrong?" Kayla asked.

Eva had her head lowered. Kayla looked under the brim of the ball cap and saw that her eyes were closed.

"She's asleep," Kayla said.

"What?" asked Aelita.

"You're kidding," said Yumi.

Kayla shook her head and waved a hand in front of Eva's eyes. "No, she's out like a light."

Maxxor picked up Eva and went inside, everyone following him.

* * *

After powering down, five of the six LYOKO warriors sat at the dining hall table, picking at the food that was set out before them. Unsure of what to eat and thinking that bread and meat were the best options, they mostly kept to that. Odd was brave and tried a little of everything, finding that he liked some of Perim's vegetables.

"He acts like he hasn't eaten in days," Maxxor whispered to Ulrich. "Doesn't he eat enough?"

Ulrich laughed. "If you mean enough, do you mean as much as an elephant?"

"For a warrior, Odd, you are on the scrawny side," Intress said.

"Uh-oh," said Yumi.

Odd swallowed the food in his mouth. "I'm not scrawny! I'm svelte!"

Kayla giggled.

Najarin entered the dining hall. "I see you are well," he said to the LYOKO warriors.

Kayla turned around in her chair. "How's Eva?" she asked.

"She will be fine," said Najarin. "From the scars on her back, it seems that she is used to taking a beating."

"She's a tough one," said Kayla, turning around and going back to her supper.

"You know it." Eva walked in behind Najarin.

"You should be resting," said Kayla.

"I got hungry," Eva said. "A girl's gotta eat."

"Looks like you're getting scraps," said Ulrich. "The walking stomach here seems to have cleaned most of the table."

Odd glared at Ulrich and wrinkled his nose.

Eva took a seat next to Aelita. "Did Jeremy say how he's going to get the towers out of here?" she asked, ripping a piece of bread in half.

Aelita nodded. "We're leaving tomorrow afternoon," she said. "That should give us some time to sleep."

"And you better get some sleep," Kayla said, jabbing a finger in Eva's direction.

"I'm fine," said Eva.

After supper, they went to the guest chambers. Odd and Ulrich shared a room and so did Kayla and Yumi. Aelita and Eva got rooms of their own. For the first night in Perim, they all slept well.


	13. Chapter 13

The next morning the LYOKO warriors thanked the OverWorlders and went back to the skid.

"What an adventure!" said Odd. "I wouldn't mind doing something like this again."

"Neither would I," said Yumi. "Only I would like if we had a little more down time instead of fighting every day."

"Okay," said Jeremy. "Get in position. I'm about to purge everything from LYOKO from Perim."

They boarded the skid and waited.

"Here we go," said Jeremy. "Code: Purge." The tower the skid was connected to disappeared. "That's it. Perim is one hundred percent XANA free."

"Time to go home," said Ulrich.

"Sounds good to me," said Yumi.

The skid dove below the surface of the water and traveled to the door.

"You know, we still have a few vacation days left, right?" asked Ulrich.

"I know what I'm going to do with them," said Kayla.

"Same here," said Yumi.

"Party!" yelled Odd.

The door to Perim closed behind them.

* * *

At Lake Ken-i-po, Najarin was staring out the window, waiting for Yin.

"Find anything?" he asked as Yin appeared behind him.

"A major tear in the barrier," replied Yin. "I managed to isolate the energy signature left on it. Whoever it is, they already left Perim. I sealed the hole, but I have no idea where this guy went."

"So Perim is safe from the outside forces who threaten us," said Najarin.

Yin stood beside Najarin. "I can't say the same about the other dimensions. Whoever is doing this wants to use XANA. I already know that the outcome if they were to succeed would be terrible to say the least."

There was silence for a moment.

"Those humans, the LYOKO warriors, they may be able to assist you further," said Najarin.

"I was thinking the same thing," said Yin. Yin waved her hand and an image of the LYOKO warriors heading back to their world appeared. "For now, I'll let them be. XANA will be on the move again soon enough."

"Be careful, Yin," said Najarin. "This is a dangerous game you are playing."

Yin waved her hand again and the image disappeared. She looked out the window at the blue sky. "I know, Najarin. I know."

"I must ask, Yin, and forgive me for not minding my own business, but how is your eye?"

Yin stiffened. "I had a feeling that you were going to ask me that," she said quietly. She reached up and touched her eyepatch. "It feels . . . strange at times. I don't think it's much to worry about."

Najarin nodded and began to leave the room.

"Why?" Yin hadn't moved from where she stood. "Why are you asking now, at all times? You haven't asked about my eye for many years."

Najarin's head lowered and remembered how he first met Yin.

* * *

Many solans ago:

Najarin was searching for herbs on a hillside. There was a strange light on the other side of the hill and an explosion. He rushed to see what it was. What he saw startled him. Two bipedal beings, one with a body of crimson flames and the other so blue that it looked black.

The two beings began to fight and nearly destroyed the location. The blue being saved the location and Najarin when it unleashed an attack so powerful that all of what remained of the red being were red crystals.

The blue being did not come out of the battle unscathed. As soon as it saw that the red being was dead, it fell to the ground and began to change form. The blue being turned into a strange female creature.

Najarin went to her side and found that her left eye was missing. Feeling sorry for her, he searched the red crystals and found one that would be the perfect size for an eye. It was only supposed to be a glass eye, but when Najarin took her home and healed her wounds and placed the "glass eye" in its place, something astonishing happened. The crystal turned to flesh and blood.

After a week of being comatose, the female woke up and told Najarin what happened to her and what she was. Her name was Yin and she was a dimensional guard.

It was a long time before Yin fully recovered. As she did, Najarin found himself becoming attached to her. He learned that Yin was a great warrior and a force to be reckoned with. With her new eye, she could see things that others could not. She would tell him stories of her adventures and he would write them down. This was how she earned the name Tale Teller.

Eventually Yin healed and she had to leave and she would come and visit every now and then. But something bothered Najarin. Every time he looked at her, he saw something evil, something lurking under that bubbly, offbeat personality of hers. And he would think that it was because of his doing that he burdened her with a great wickedness.

* * *

"Najarin, what is it?" Yin asked.

"Nothing," replied Najarin. "I just remembered something."

"Don't lie to me, Najarin."

Najarin heard something evil in her voice. He turned to see that her eyepatch was off and her left eye was red as the being that she fought with all those solans ago. There was a dark aura around her.

"Najarin?" Yin asked with concern. She saw his eyes widen in fear. What was he afraid of? "Najarin?"

Najarin blinked and saw Yin looked like she always did, eyepatch in place. "Yin, please leave," Najarin said.

"What?"

"Yin, please," Najarin pleaded gently. "There is work you must do before anyone else is harmed."

"Okay," said Yin. She disappeared.

Najarin stood there for a long time afterwards. A cold sweat had broken out on his brow. Was he seeing things? No. No, there was something definitely there.

"Yin, forgive me."

* * *

**The more twist and turns the better, I say. The final part will be posted soon, by the end of March, I hope. If not, it will be up by the end of the first week of April. Please review and look for the final installment, _Manhattan Fights._**


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